Photo: Lorenzo Bianda

Devised by Nam June Paik, Good Morning, Mr. Orwell was a live television broadcast held on New Year's Day, 1984 that transmitted live footage from New York, Paris, Berlin and Seoul to a global audience of over 25 million viewers. Ultimately conceived by Paik, the broadcast was essentially a variety show, composed of both video footage and computer graphics (designed by Paik), that included performances by George Plimpton, Charlotte Moorman, Laurie Anderson, Peter Gabriel, Philip Glass, Allen Ginsberg, Peter Orlovsky, Merce Cunningham, Joseph Beuys, Robert Rauschenberg, Sapho and others. As its title suggests, Good Morning Mr. Orwell sought to respond to George Orwell's prediction for that year and declare that, in 1984, television and mass media were not totalitarian tools but were, instead, agents of art and the avant-garde. In order to celebrate and meditate upon the New Year, The Kitchen held an open-house on New Year's Day where Good Morning, Mr. Orwell was transmitted accompanied with performances by Laurie Anderson, John Cage, Merce Cunningham and Allen Ginsberg.