Critical Writing Index

'Electronic Superhighway', curated by Omar Kholeif

by Paul O'Kane

Moving Image Review & Art Journal (MIRAJ), 2016, v. 5, no. 1&2, pp. 284-292

This article reviews the exhibition "Electronic Superhighway," at Whitechapel Gallery, which was curated by Omar Kholeif. The exhibition is the examination of the interconnected global art culture from 1966 to 2016, basically from the first networked experiments to the Internet in 2016. The author Paul O'Kane raises three main questions that emerge in the digital art world: whether digital artists should deal with traditional or exceptional art; whether digital art is more "digital" or "art"; and whether new media and new technologies affect artists' and curators' role in the art world. Follow by these three questions, Paul analyzes different artists' works that are showcased in this exhibition. Paul concludes that even though technology and the machine are being confronted in the modern era, as cultural producers, we should continue to prioritize human power and human values.

ITEM 2016.038 – available for viewing in the Research Centre

Videos, Artworks and Artists Cited

Sueno de una TardeAleksanda Domanovic

Antoine Catala

Nam Jun Paik

Kurt Schwitters BarJon Rafman

Monet Economy ClassJon Rafman

Deep FaceDouglas Coupland

Celia Hempton

Manfred Mohr

Substrat 34 IThomas Ruff

Do You Have Work TomorrowMahmoud Khaled

Excellences & PerfectionsAmalia Ulman

A Family Finds EntertainmentRyan Trecartin

Scrollbar CompositionJan Robert Leegte

Blackness for SaleMendi & Keith Obadike

HelloAllen Kaprow