Electric Dreams: Art and technology Before the Internet.
Tate Modern
Until June 1st 2025
When I make my usual trips to London galleries and museums, my initial list always consists of The Design Museum, The V&A, The Gilbert and George Centre and of course the Tate Modern. The Tate mega structure on London’s Southbank has been home to many inspiring and significant exhibitions and experiences. From Olafur Eliasson’s ‘Weather Project’ installation in 2003 to Carsten Holler’s Slides in 2007, from ‘The World Goes Pop’ in 2017 to ‘Soul of a Nation: Art in the Age of Black Power’. Yesterday I went to another wonderfully curated exhibition called ‘Electric Dreams: Art and technology Before the Internet’, an eclectic, somewhat formalist, exhibition that I enjoyed so much that I am already planning a return trip before it leaves at the beginning of June. The Tate describe it as "a network of artists inspired by scientific ideas and technologies. It tells a series of loosely connected stories about the early innovators of electronic art, from the 1950s to the widespread adoption of the internet in the early 1990s. Collaborating internationally, they experimented with cutting-edge media and hybrid methods to expand their collective creative horizons".
I sat and stared at Brion Gysin’s Dream Machine, kicked around giant white balloons in Carlos Cruz-Diez’ ‘Environnement Chromointerférent’ and listened to Takis’ Electro-Magnetic Music' from his sculpture with wire, nail, and magnet. The exhibition appealed directly to my love of industrial music and performance art and would look as in place in the Science Museum as it did in the Tate modern.
If you want to see it, you still have a
few months, but it is a ticketed exhibition so buy a yearly National Art Pass.
It will save you money (50% off this one).
Essential Information: Advance tickets can be booked here
Or buy a National Art Pass here
All images by Martin Devenney
