People

By Guy D. Garcia

The ultra-high-frequency father of video art, Nam June Paik, is understandably proud of his latest brainchild for the electronic age. This week public television will air Bye Bye Kipling, a 90-minute avant-garde variety special, broadcast live from three countries. Intended as a high- resolution refutation of Kipling's "East is East, and West is West, and never the twain shall meet," the show will feature a sampler of art, music and sports. Painter Keith Haring, Musicians Philip Glass and Lou Reed and a member of Paik's "family" of video robots will appear in Manhattan, Architect Arata Isozaki and Fashion Designer Issey Miyake will be on from Tokyo, and outside Seoul, cameras will follow the running of the marathon at the Asian Games. "The hardest part was not raising the money but dealing with three different countries that historically mistrust one another," notes Korean- born Paik, 54, who clearly remains unfazed by such geopolitical interference. He is already looking forward to his next project, a live global broadcast during the 1988 Seoul Olympics.