Electronic Superhighway (2016-1966) at Whitechapel Gallery
29 January – 15 May 2016
A major exhibition bringing together over 100 works to show the impact of computer and Internet technologies on artists from the mid-1960s to the present day.
The exhibition title is taken from a term coined in 1974 by South Korean video art pioneer Nam June Paik, who foresaw the potential of global connections through technology. Arranged in reverse chronological order, Electronic Superhighway begins with works made at the arrival of the new millennium, and ends with Experiments in Art and Technology (E.A.T), an iconic, artistic moment that took place in 1966. Key moments in the history of art and the Internet emerge as the exhibition travels back in time.
The exhibition features new and rarely seen multimedia works, together with film, painting, sculpture, photography and drawing. From Cory Arcangel, Jeremy Bailey, James Bridle, Constant Dullaart and Oliver Laric, to Roy Ascott, Judith Barry, Lynn Hershman Leeson and Ulla Wiggen, over 70 artists spanning 50 years are included.
Nam June Paik, Internet Dream (1994), video sculpture, 287 x 380 x 80 cm. ZKM | Collection © (2008) ZKM | Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe, Photo: Steffen Harms
Addie Wagenknecht, Asymmetric Love (2013) Courtesy bitforms gallery, New York. Photograph by David Payr © Addie Wagenknecht
Oliver Laric, Versions (Missile Variations) (2010) Private Collection, London. Image courtesy the artist and Seventeen Gallery, London © Oliver Laric
Thomas Ruff, Substrat 34 I (2007) Courtesy David Zwirner New York/London © Thomas Ruff
Lynn Hershman Leeson, Seduction of a Cyborg (1994) ZKM Collection © (2015) ZKM Center for Art and Media, Karlsruhe © Lynn Hershman Leeson
Eduardo Kac, Tesão (Horny) (1985) Courtesy the artist and England & Co. Gallery, London © Eduardo Kac
