From the birth of op art to the dawn of the internet age, artists found new ways to engage the senses and play with our perception. Electric Dreams celebrates the early innovators of optical, kinetic, programmed and digital art, who pioneered a new era of immersive sensory installations and automatically-generated works.
This major exhibition brings together groundbreaking works by a wide range of international artists who engaged with science, technology and material innovation. Experience the psychedelic environments they created in the 1950s and 60s, built using mathematical principles, motorised components and new industrial processes. See how radical artists embraced the birth of digital technology in the 1970s and 1980s, experimenting with machine-made art and early home computing systems.
One of Tate Modern’s most ambitious exhibitions to date, Electric Dreams offers visitors a rare chance to experience incredible works of vintage tech art in action – a look back at how artists imagined the visual language of the future.
Electric Dreams: Art and Technology Before the Internet at Tate Modern is presented in the Eyal Ofer Galleries. In partnership with Gucci. Supported by Anthropic, with additional support from The Electric Dreams Exhibition Supporters Circle, Tate Americas Foundation, Tate International Council and Tate Patrons. Research supported by Hyundai Tate Research Centre: Transnational in partnership with Hyundai Motor.
Suzanne Treister Fictional Videogame Stills/Are You Dreaming? 1991-2 © Suzanne Treister
Carlos Cruz-Diez Environnement Chromointerférent, Paris 1974/2017 © Carlos Cruz-Diez / Bridgeman Images, Paris 2024
Monika Fleischmann & Wolfgang Strauss Liquid Views - Narcissus Mirror 1992
Eduardo Kac Horny 1985 Lent by the Tate Americas Foundation © Eduardo Kac
Heinz Mack during the shoot of the film 'TELE-MACK' in the Sahara desert, east of Oasis Kebili, Tunisia, 1968. Photo: Edwin Braun/VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn, 2024, DACS, London, 2024
Rebecca Allen; Marina Apollonio; Manuel Barbadillo; Alberto Biasi; Vladimir Bonačić; Davide Boriani; Martha Boto; Pol Bury; Harold Cohen; Analivia Cordeiro; Waldemar Cordeiro; Carlos Cruz-Diez; Charles Csuri; Computer Technique Group; Dadamaino; Atul Desai; Lucia Di Luciano; Ivan Dryer and Elsa Garmire; E.A.T.; Monika Fleischmann and Wolfgang Strauss; Herbert W. Franke; Brion Gysin; Samia Halaby; Desmond Paul Henry; Hervé Huitric and Monique Nahas; Edward Ihnatowicz; Eduardo Kac; Hiroshi Kawano; Ben Laposky; Julio Le Parc; Ruth Leavitt; Liliane Lijn; Heinz Mack; Robert Mallary; Mary Martin; Almir Mavignier; Gustav Metzger; David Medalla; Tatsuo Miyajima; Manfred Mohr; Vera Molnar; François Morellet; Tomislav Mikulić, Fujiko Nakaya; Frieder Nake; Georg Nees; Akbar Padamsee; Nam June Paik and Jud Yalkut; Ivan Picelj; Otto Piene; Günther Uecker; Paolo Scheggi; Lillian F. Schwartz; Sonia Landy Sheridan; Aleksandar Srnec; Jesús Rafael Soto; Vera Spencer; Takis; Atsuko Tanaka; Jean Tinguely; Franciszka Themerson; Suzanne Treister; Wen-Ying Tsai; Grazia Varisco; Steina and Woody Vasulka; Mohsen Vaziri Moghaddam; Miguel Ángel Vidal; Nanda Vigo; Stephen Willats; Katsuhiro Yamaguchi; Lawrence Paul Yuxweluptun; Edward Zajec
Find out more about the Electric Dreams: Art and Technology Before the Internet exhibition with our exhibition guide.
Need a bigger font size of the exhibition guide? Download the large print guide [0.99MB]
All Tate Modern entrances are step-free. You can enter via the Turbine Hall and into the Natalie Bell Building on Holland Street, or into the Blavatnik Building on Sumner Street.
There are lifts to every floor of the Blavatnik and Natalie Bell buildings. Alternatively you can take the stairs.
- Fully accessible toilets are located on every floor on the concourses.
- A quiet room is available to use in the Natalie Bell Building on Level 4.
- Ear defenders can be borrowed from the Ticket desks.
To help plan your visit to Tate Modern, have a look at our visual story. It includes photographs and information about what you can expect from a visit to the gallery.
For more information before your visit:
- Email hello@tate.org.uk
- Call +44 (0)20 7887 8888 (daily 10.00–17.00)
