Electric Dreams: Art and Technology Before the Internet, Tate Modern review – an exhaustive and exhausting show

Sarah Kent | the arts desk | 2nd December 2024

From the 1950’s artists viewed technology as a new frontier. Some work is “poignant”, with wobbly machines being “like metaphors for life”. Our growing understanding of perception paralleled the emergence of op art. Computers, though, have complicated things. When used to aid (imperfect) human creativity, they are fine but attempts at autonomous creativity fall flat. “When a machine takes control … the results become less interesting.  I left the exhibition feeling profoundly depressed.”