Dream Machines, curated by Daniel Birnbaum and Massimiliano Gioni, is a small exhibition that explores the impact of technology on human imagination. The emergence of a new medium always gives rise to new possibilities for art, and each epoch has its key artists in whose creations a novel encounter between technology and creativity crystalize. Dream Machines presents a number of momentous works, from Ulf Linde’s reinterpretation of Marcel Duchamp’s Coffee Mill (1911)–described by André Breton as an infernal machine–to a selection of recent experiments exploring virtual spheres. Installed in the cavernous spaces of the Slaughterhouse in Hydra and in its surroundings, this boîte-en-valise of an exhibition becomes itself a bachelor machine, with works caught in an endless mechanic ballet.
Essay film-catalogue by Jacqui Davies
Combining loans from the Dakis Joannou Collection with contributions by several artists, the exhibition features works by Marcel Duchamp, Fischli & Weiss, H.R. Giger, Nathalie Djurberg and Hans Berg, Brion Gysin, Jeff Koons, Mire Lee, Ulf Linde, Henrik Olesen, Philippe Parreno, Seth Price, William Reich, Pipilotti Rist, Pamela Rosenkranz, Mika Rottenberg, Sturtevant, Andro Wekua, Ulla Wiggen, and many others.
Featured image: Seth Price, Untitled Film/Right, 2006 | Courtesy of the artist