Electronic Superhighway, exhibition review: Take a trip in time machine of tech

This absorbing show may be overly cluttered, says Ben Luke, but you're guaranteed to learn a lot
Ben Luke1 February 2016

In a novel twist on the historical survey, Electronic Superhighway takes you in a time machine, beginning with the present and travelling back to 1966. It’s a “how did we get here?” show, with more than 100 works by 70 artists. You’re guaranteed to learn a lot.

But there’s a distinct disadvantage to this approach. The fresh, new stuff is inevitably so far advanced technologically, in terms of its resolution, its speed, its depth, that much of the earlier material looks clunky and dated. It means that the show’s momentum diminishes: the first half is a giddying assault on the senses, the latter half a more cerebral journey into the archives.

Two contrasting themes emerge. Some artists enjoy technology as a platform for infinite possibilities, as in the work of Nam June Paik, one of the pioneers of electronic art from the Sixties onwards, or Jacolby Satterwhite’s more recent, intoxicating fusion of performance, video and gaming.

But then a more sceptical, post-Snowdon mood also prevails, in Addie Wagenknecht’s chandelier of CCTV cameras, for instance, and even in Douglas Coupland’s apparently breezy combination of photographic portraits with geometric abstraction — these are a response to Facebook’s use of facial recognition algorithms, one of the myriad subtle forms of privacy invasion online that go largely unnoticed.

Electronic Superhighway

1/9

Electronic Superhighway is deliberately packed, as befits a show about the information age, yet it feels overly cluttered in places. Still, this is an absorbing show; set aside a few hours and take a plunge.

Until May 15, Whitechapel Gallery (020 7522 7888, whitechapelgallery.org)

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