Confused Rain | Posthumous collaboration with Nam June Paik | 2008 | Computer Program

Synopsis

An expansion of Nam June Paik's Confused Rain (1967) into a computer program that produces an animation of the letters C-O-N-F-U-S-E falling like rain drops.

Artist Statement

From Video 'n' Videology:

Confused Rain (Computer Graphic, 1967). Simulation of rain falling through the lettters C-O-N-F-U-S-E.¹

From the vitrine for Confused Rain at the Tate Modern:

Spread of Video 'n' Videology 1959-1973 (1974) showing a reproduction of Confused Rain (1967, lithograph on paper).

Paik wanted to use computers to generate random patterns, mimicking the chaotic character of his semi–improvised performances. However, he found programming to be too rigid for his anarchic experiments. In this computer– generated visual poem the letters of the word CONFUSE appear scattered at random across a sheet of paper. Paik made Confused Rain ‘to protest the lack of common sense in the computer’.

The Estate of Nam June Paik Z75112.

Screenings/Exhibitions

October 1, 2022 – January 14, 2023. Computational Poetics, Beall Center for Art + Technology, Irvine, California. Curated by Hannah B. Higgins and David Familian.

November 19, 2009. See The Voice, Visible Verse 2009, Pacific Cinematheque, Vancouver, British Columbia. Curated by Heather Haley.

1. Nam June Paik.Video 'n' Videology1959-1937 (Syracuse: Everson Museum of Art, 1974): 30.[↩]