Future Shock: an immersive London exhibition of psychedelic digital worlds

180 Studios and Fact present Future Shock, a sensory overload of an art show exploring tech, dystopia, and utopia by artists like object blue and Lawrence Lek

Hero image in post
photo: Jack Hems
Hero image in post
photo: Jack Hems

180 Studios and Fact present Future Shock, a sensory overload of an art show exploring tech, dystopia, and utopia by artists like object blue and Lawrence Lek

By Patrick Heardman12 May 2022
2 mins read time
2 mins read time

180 the Strand has played host to some of the finest immersive art exhibitions in London over the past decade from leading contemporary artists such as Ryoji Ikeda, Daniel Arsham, and Jeremy Deller – now the art space is continuing that tradition with its latest offering: Future Shock, destined to be a mainstay on your social media feeds for months to come.

Future Shock, curated in collaboration with Fact, transforms 180’s cavernous subterranean spaces into a maze of digital audiovisual installations, seemingly designed to make you feel like you’re being soldered onto a computer chip and shot directly through a complex web of circuitry.

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Jack Hems

Expect “generative and interactive algorithms, AI and 3D digital mapping, spellbinding laser work, holographic projections and groundbreaking electronic music”.

The project includes works from Ryoichi Kurokawa, UVA, Caterina Barbieri and Ruben Spini, Gaika, Nonotak, object blue, and many others, all of whom reimagine our near future with “multiple new commissions, site-specific installations” and “vital sensory experiences that challenge our preconceptions and offer up new possibilities”.

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Jack Hems

Weirdcore will present a brand new piece featuring an original soundtrack from long-time collaborator Aphex Twin, while Lawrence Lek presents a new piece featuring a score from hyperdub founder Kode9. Floating Points has also produced some original music to accompany a piece from Hamill Industries.

The exhibition takes its name from American futurologist Alvin Toffler’s 1970 book, Future Shock, a term defined by the author as a certain psychological state of individuals and entire societies whereby they have experienced "too much change in too short a period of time". Toffler argues that the accelerated rate of technological change in some societies can leave people suffering from “shattering stress and disorientation”, in other words, future shock.

The exhibition is open now and runs until August 28 2022