9 vacuum-tube radios, 3 small monitors, gramophone speaker, LCD monitors
1-channel video, color-silent,
183x108x61cm

This is a representation of the Austrian composer Franz Schubert constructed with nine old vacuum-tube radios in different shapes. The robot wears a red cone hat which is in fact a gramophone’s speaker. The visual elements of the radio parts, i.e., horizontal and vertical lines of speakers, circular dials, frequency numbers, and attached clocks, all contribute to the overall composition of the sculpture. Three of the radios have small monitors inserted inside, showing the same video in three different ways. The first monitor is placed in a normal position, the second one upside down, and the third one behind the speaker. The videos are about Charlotte Moorman performing with Paik as a human cello, their performances in Guadalcanal, Paik’s Robot Opera on the street, and his manipulation of images with experimental televisions. Paik indeed mentioned Schubert in several of his writings, in one of which, talking about his friends who helped him in the art world, he saw Ben Vautier, one of his Fluxus colleagues, as comparable to Schubert in that Vautier had a “curious mix of naivety and sincerity.”