E.A.T. was founded in 1966 in the USA by Billy Klüver and Fred Waldhauer, engineers at Bell Telephone Laboratories – then the world’s leading center for electronic innovation and telecommunications research – and artists Robert Rauschenberg and Robert Whitman. Initiating new types of interaction between theater, visual arts, multisensory environments and cutting-edge technologies, E.A.T.’s innovative, interdisciplinary experiments went beyond the traditional framework of art to address social issues such as education and environmental protection. Continuing LUMA’s long-term commitment to creativity and innovation, Sensing the Future sheds unique light on a seminal initiative whose impact on several generations of artists remains central today.
Organized in partnership with the Getty Research Institute, the exhibition retraces the key moments in E.A.T.’s mythical history. It opens with E.A.T’s first events, then presents works and documents relating to “9 Evenings: Theatre & Engineering” (1966), the Pepsi Pavilion at Expo ’70 in Osaka, Japan (1970), and “Projects Outside Art” (1970). At LUMA Arles, the exhibition is enriched by additional works, rarely shown before, and previously unpublished documents, highlighting E.A.T.’s decisive role in the history of contemporary art.
With works by Robert Breer, John Cage, Lucinda Childs, Ivan Dryer, Jean Dupuy, Öyvind Fahlström, Hans Haacke, Alex Hay, Deborah Hay, Marta Minujín, Peter Moore, Forrest Myers, Fujiko Nakaya, Steve Paxton, Yvonne Rainer, Robert Rauschenberg, Lillian Schwartz, Harry Shunk & János Kender, Wen-Ying Tsai, David Tudor, Andy Warhol, Robert Whitman and others.
A member of the J. Paul Getty Trust, Los Angeles, the Getty Research Institute (GRI) is an international center dedicated to the study of visual culture and houses one of the world’s largest art libraries. Getty is a leading global arts organization, committed to the exhibition, conservation and understanding of the world’s artistic and cultural heritage.
Sensing the Future was one of more than 60 exhibitions and programs presented throughout Southern California as part of the 2024 edition of PST ART, entitled Art & Science Collide and presented by the Getty. PST ART: Art & Science Collide succeeded Pacific Standard Time: LA/LA (September 2017-January 2018) and Pacific Standard Time: Art in L.A. 1945-1980 (October 2011- March 2012).
