Born in Seoul, Korea. Paik studied music history, art history, and philosophy at the University of Tokyo, where he graduated with a dissertation on Arnold Schoenberg. He then went to Germany in 1956 to continue the study of music history at the University of Munich. where met Karlheinz Stockhausen and John Cage who influenced Paik through their ideas of composition and performance. He then got involved with the post neo-Dada art movement, fluxus. Fluxus was founded by George Maciunas. George invited Paik to join his group of artists and he accepted. Then he returned to Japan to conduct experiments with electromagnets and colour television, alongside electronic engineer Shuya Abe. The rise of new technology led him to use the video image. Today he is known as the father of video art and influences the younger generation of artists.
