Artwork by Ed Atkins tackles the topic of mortality at Tate Britain exhibition
Ed Atkins' latest exhibition at Tate Britain, running from 2 April to 25 August 2025, offers visitors a unique exploration of self-representation in today's technologically saturated world. The show surveys 15 years of Atkins' work and includes large-screen videos, drawings, text pieces, and eerie, undulating beds.
Atkins' art practice is known for its use of contemporary digital technologies to challenge traditional notions of physicality and embodiment. He employs cutting-edge CGI and hyperrealistic video techniques to confront the limits of representation in a screen-saturated culture, creating an uncanny "human magic realism" that blurs the line between digital illusion and corporeal presence.
In his latest work, a newfound paternal warmth is present, countering the palpable nihilism that has always run through his pieces. This change is reflected in 'Nurses Come and Go, but None for Me' (2024), a two-hour film featuring actor Toby Jones reading diaries written by Atkins' father following his cancer diagnosis. The straightforward love and joy in Atkins' latest work is attached to the love of his children.
Atkins' works often question how digital imagery can represent the self beyond surface appearances. In his new show, digital avatars and a surreal, delirious soundtrack create an immersive experience that probes how contemporary technologies influence perceptions of reality and subjectivity.
One of the most striking features of the exhibition is the use of an everyman avatar purchased for $100, which is used repeatedly in Atkins' videos. The digital avatars in his work are blatantly unalive, missing a specific humanness that is difficult to recreate. Ed Atkins describes these avatars as a form of death, attempting to look like or be a person but failing.
Visitors weave through an imposing installation of previously worn opera costumes, while in 'Piano Work 2' (2023), Atkins' actual form is recreated using motion capture technology. The video screens are backed with embroideries, merging technology with handcrafting.
The theme of death is ever-present in Atkins' work, with personal and universal reflections. One drawing features the artist's head attached to a spider's body, while the melancholy that permeates his work is balanced with a newfound lightness.
For more information about the exhibition, visit tate.org.uk. This exhibition promises to be a thought-provoking journey into the complexities of identity, embodiment, and mediation through technology in today's world.
In Ed Atkins' latest exhibition, the artist delves into the complexities of self-representation in today's technologically saturated world, using digital avatars and immersive installations to question how digital imagery can represent the self beyond surface appearances. This thought-provoking journey into identity, embodiment, and mediation through technology is a unique form of entertainment, inviting visitors to contemplate the influence of contemporary technologies on perceptions of reality and subjectivity.
