Artists have a long history of working alongside engineers and other technologists to challenge and develop new forms of software and hardware and new uses for existing technologies. Four examples of what is known as 'software art' were commissioned for the Digitopolis gallery, which occupied the second floor of the Wellcome Wing from 2000 until 2006.
Software art is a form of 'media art' - art made by, with or about electronic, digital and other 'unstable' or fast-evolving media. Digitopolis provided an in-depth exploration of the then emerging digital technologies, and the surprising and astonishing influences they were having on contemporary society. It invited visitors to question the ways in which new technologies are changing our experience of the world.
The artists who were featured in the Digitopolis gallery are pioneers in this field. Their work remains in the Museum's collection even though the gallery is no longer open.
