Two coinciding exhibitions in London let viewers experience the transformative fusion of art and technology in the pre-internet era.
“Electric Dreams” at Tate Modern and “Arteonics” at the Mayor Gallery showcase the work of revolutionary international artists who broke out of the frame and embraced computing as a creative practice. While their output was remarkably wide-ranging, these innovators shared a fascination with the precise logic of coding and the potentialities of user interaction.
One of Tate Modern’s most ambitious shows to date, “Electric Dreams” takes visitors through a nearly chronological journey through vintage tech art, examining how artists of the past envisioned the future of art making and visual language. Featuring a range of artists from all over the world, the show allows visitors to immerse themselves in installations and experience machines and objects that play with perception.
Davide Boriani, PH-scope (1964). Courtesy of the Mayor Gallery, London.
Across the Thames from Tate Modern is the Mayor Gallery, a beacon for modern and contemporary art since 1925. Their current show, “Arteonics,” builds on the success of their 2018 exhibition “Writing New Codes,” presenting work by 18 pioneers of kinetic and digital art.
Vera Molnár, Untitled (MV579A) – Carrés concentriques (1974). Courtesy of the Mayor Gallery.
Highlights include a pair of computer plotter drawings by the Hungarian artist Vera Molnár, who was heralded as the “Godmother of Generative Art.” In 1968, she gained access to a computer owned by the Sorbonne and began feeding it instructions on punch cards. The drawings on view date from 1974, the year that the computer was equipped with a screen, allowing the artist to see what she was creating in real time.
Grazia Varisco, Schema Luminoso Variabile (1963). Courtesy of the Mayor Gallery.
Another standout piece is Grazia Varisco’s Schema Luminoso Variabile (1963), an early kinetic object that generates hypnotic pulses of light within a circular matrix. At this time, Varisco was a member of the short-lived but influential Gruppo T collective based in Milan.
Further kinetic works on view include mesmerizing contraptions like Giovanni Anceschi’s Strutturazione cilindrica virtuale (1963) and Gabriele Devecchi’s Strutturazione triangolare (1963), emphasizing the creative and aesthetic possibilities of machinery.
Together with works by artists such as Julio Le Parc, Gerhard von Graevenitz, and Robert Mallary, just to name a few, the show not only highlights individual achievement but, through their juxtaposition, illuminates the overarching creative lines of inquiry into tech and its intersections with visual art in the 20th century.
As generative AI, extended reality, and blockchains continue to shape conversations about the future of human creativity, these two exhibitions, which offer an unparalleled opportunity to rediscover the roots of digital art, have come at an ideal moment.
“Arteonics” is on view through January 31, 2025 at the Mayor Gallery, 9 Bury Street, London.