Television Violoncello is a performance sculpture by Nam June Paik that he created in 1971 for cellist Charlotte Moorman. The piece consists of a stack of three television monitors set in plexiglass boxes forming the body of a cello (with plexiglass neck and pegbox). The televisions play a video collage of cello players and a live feed of the performance. As the cellist plays, pickups amplify the sound.
Unlike Nam June Paik's earlier piece TV Bra for Living Sculpture, playing upon the "cello" (descriptions vary as to whether there are one or three strings, although four pegs seem visible in photographs) does not electronically affect the video display. Charlotte Moorman called the piece "the first real innovation in cello design since 1600."
The physical components of this piece are held by the Walker Art Center in Minniapolis, listed at <collections.walkerart.org/item/object/881>.
A picture of Nam June Paik and Charlotte Moorman outfitted for the performace of this piece may be found at <www.paikstudios.com/gallery/19.html>
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