Dream Machines

June 19 – October 30, 2023
DESTE Foundation Project Space
Slaughterhouse, Hydra

Dream Machines
Curated by
Daniel Birnbaum and Massimiliano Gioni

With works by
ACM, Thomas Bayrle, Emery Blagdon, Lee Bul, Maurizio Cattelan, Nathalie Djurberg & Hans Berg, Marcel Duchamp, Cao Fei, Urs Fischer, Fischli & Weiss, H.R. Giger, Brion Gysin, Camille Henrot, Judith Hopf, Jeff Koons, Mire Lee, Ulf Linde, Abu Bakarr Mansaray, James Tilly Matthews, Jakob Mohr, Vera Molnar, Henrik Olesen, Philippe Parreno, Seth Price, Wilhelm Reich, Pipilotti Rist, Pamela Rosenkranz, Mika Rottenberg, Sturtevant, Takis, Andro Wekua, Ulla Wiggen, Anicka Yi.

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.

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.

Opening hours:
Daily 11:00–13:00 & 19:00–22:00
Tuesdays closed (with the exception of Tuesday, June 20)