Candle TV in Digital Era-004, 2018
CRT TV (SONY / GOLDSTAR / SAMSUNG), Arduino, LED matrix, USB Cable, USB Charger, E-waste Part
12.5(W) x 21(H) x 14(D) inch (31 x 51 x 35 cm)
Candle TV in the Digital Era
After the digital switchover, countless analog televisions were abandoned—once-central devices rendered obsolete by rapid technological evolution. Rather than seeing these machines as remnants of the past, I approach them as symbolic interfaces that carry technological memory and unresolved potential within the history of video art.
This work extends the lineage of video art initiated by Nam June Paik, particularly Candle TV, while responding to contemporary conditions shaped by code, networks, and intelligent systems. My decade-long experience as a technician in New York, repairing and preserving Paik’s works, informs this practice, grounding it in both material knowledge and historical continuity.
Candle TV in the Digital Era reimagines the flickering candle as a data-driven phenomenon. Breath becomes data. A candle becomes code. Analog signals are translated into digital information, visualized as a constantly shifting, flame-like state. Fire—humanity’s first discovered technology—functions as a metaphor for transformation, continuity, and rebirth within technological evolution.
The CRT television operates as an iconic yet restrained presence: a symbol of obsolete technology left behind by progress, and a vessel that holds accumulated cultural memory. Its physical weight and limitations contrast with the immaterial flow of digital information, exposing the tension between technological advancement and abandonment.
At the center of the work is interaction. Sound, breath, and environmental input activate the system in real time, giving rise to what I call a Digital Being—a primitive yet emergent form of consciousness born from discarded technology. Artificial intelligence plays a subtle but essential role by generating and refining the code that connects these interactions, enabling physical gestures and abstract data to continuously influence the system’s behavior.
The structure of the work reflects Gilles Deleuze’s concept of the Rhizome: non-hierarchical, layered, and constantly shifting. Text, image, sound, and light coexist without a fixed center, forming a living network rather than a linear narrative.
Ultimately, this work honors obsolete machines while questioning the direction of technological progress. It proposes a model for sustaining media art in the digital age—not through replacement, but through transformation—imagining a future where abandoned technologies give rise to new forms of digital life.
Digital Being: Candle TV in Digital Era-005, 2018
CRT TV Monitor, Arduino, LED Matrix, Distance Sensor, USB Cable, USB Charger, TV Mount, Wood Panel, Screw, E-waste Part
7(W) x 13(H) x 10(D) inch (18 x 33 x 25.5 cm)
Digital Being: Candle TV in Digital Era-008, 2019
CRT TV Monitor, Arduino, LED Matrix, Distance Sensor, USB Cable, USB Charger, TV Mount, Wood Panel, Screw, E-waste Part
7(W) x 13(H) x 10(D) inch (18 x 33 x 25.5 cm)
2023-08-06 (Gold Star CMT-4122-Red)
Antenna, CRT TV, LED matrix, ESP32, ESP8266, OLED display, sound sensor, e-waste, wire, USB charger
— Programmed with Arduino IDE + API
12.6 × 39.37 × 13.39 inches (32 x 100 x 34 cm) | 4.31kg (9.50 lbs)
Wishing in the digital era
A breath becomes data.
A candle becomes code.
A Digital Being drifts through invisible wind—
between the real and the digital.
Being Digital
Made in WTC
2022-01-19 (Gold Star VR-230-Red)
Gold Star CRT TV VR-230, LED matrix, driver module, antenna, ESP32, ESP8266, OLED display, mic module, wire, USB charger, price tag, e-waste parts
— Programmed with Arduino IDE
10.5 x 12.5 x 11.5 inches (26.67 × 31.75 × 29.21 cm)
Wishing in the digital era
A breath becomes data.
A candle becomes code.
A Digital Being drifts through invisible wind—
between the real and the digital.
Being Digital
Made in WTC