Nam June Paik (1932-2006) was a seminal figure in modern art whose radical contributions catalyzed the development of video art. Born in Seoul Korea, Paik studied at the University of Tokyo before moving to West Germany where he met and collaborated with other influential avant-garde figures such as John Cage, Joseph Beuys, and George Maciunas as a member of Fluxus, an experimental interdisciplinary arts collective. In 1964 Paik moved to New York where he met the cellist Charlotte Moorman with whom he forged a decades-long collaborative practice. An innovator in incorporating new media into the visual arts, Paik pioneered the use of many forms of electronic technology, including televisions, video cameras, color video synthesizers. Paik passed away in Miami in 2006.

TV Cello, 1999 is a late-career piece by Nam June Paik that looks back and reflects upon the artist's long history of collaboration with Charlotte Moorman. Three partly-dismantled TV monitors encased in acrylic are arranged to form a "cello" that plays an edited montage of past collaborative performances with Moorman, including the TV Cello, 1971; TV Bed, 1972, and Guadalcanal Requiem, 1977. Moorman, who had passed away in 1991, had been an equal partner in much of Paik's performance art, and TV Cello, 1999 is a tribute that honors her contributions.