Winding Back in Time

Winding Back in Time: ‘Electronic Superhighway’ at Whitechapel Gallery, London

Exhibition “Electronic Superhighway (2016–1966)” at London’s Whitechapel Gallery. The ambitious show charted 50 years of artists’ engagement with new technologies through some 100 artworks.

Mouchette (1996), for instance, is an avatar of a teenage artist, created by Martine Neddam. The character Mouchette has her own interactive website that has taken on a spontaneous life of its own in the Internet community, with many users unaware that the site is part of an artwork. In the gallery, one could sit at a terminal and roam Mouchette’s gothic universe of blood-spattered images, throbbing music, and mystical symbols—and, disturbingly, offer her advice on ways to commit suicide.