prehysteries of new media: >> exhibition;: "This is Tomorrow", 1956

<< preface

this blog is nina wenhart's collection of resources on the various histories of new media art. it consists mainly of non or very little edited material i found flaneuring on the net, sometimes with my own annotations and comments, sometimes it's also textparts i retyped from books that are out of print.

it is also meant to be an additional resource of information and recommended reading for my students of the prehystories of new media class that i teach at the school of the art institute of chicago in fall 2008.

the focus is on the time period from the beginning of the 20th century up to today.

2008-07-15

>> exhibition;: "This is Tomorrow", 1956

the complete catalogue can be found here: http://www.thisistomorrow2.com/images/cat_1956/cat_web/FrameSet.htm

from: www.independentgroup.org.uk/.../index.html

Hamilton’s most famous exhibition contribution was This is Tomorrow. He designed the space with John McHale and John Voelcker and its theme was problems of perception. It included a giant cut-out of Marilyn Monroe and Robbie the Robot – the latter borrowed from the opening of the film The Forbidden Planet – and a juke box. Each of the twelve groups involved with the exhibition designed a poster, and Hamilton designed Group 2’s, using a collage image that would be destined to become emblematic of 1950s, American consumer culture, Just What Is It That Makes Today’s Homes So Different, So Appealing?

from: http://www.thisistomorrow2.com/pages_gb/1956gb.html

This                  is Tomorrow has become an iconic exhibition notable not only                  for the arrival of the naming of Pop Art but also as a captured                  moment for the multi-disciplinary merging of the disciplines of                  art and architecture
                  "In 'This is Tomorrow' the visitor is exposed to space                  effects, play with signs, a wide range of materials and structures,                  which, taken together make of art and architecture a many chanelled                  activity, as far from ideal standards as the street outside".                  --- Lawrence ALLOWAY, introduction, Exhibition Catalogue
From:                  "orthodox abstract art, with its classical regularity and                  rational order, through room-size sculptures to walk through,                  to crazy-house structures plastered with pin-up images from the                  popular press." --- press release, This is Tomorrow 1956