The Norton Simon Museum presents Plugged In: Art and Electric Light, an exhibition that explores the emergence of electric light as an artistic medium in the mid-20th century as artists engaged with new technology, mass media and industrial materials. These themes are explored through 11 works of art produced between 1964 and 1970, all drawn from the Museum’s collections. The eight artists represented in Plugged In — Walter Askin, Laddie John Dill, Dan Flavin, Robert Irwin, Jess, Robert Rauschenberg, Allen Ruppersberg and Andy Warhol — incorporated electric light into their practice as a way to shape and respond to sweeping artistic and social change.
Plugged In is on view from Sept. 20, 2024, through Feb. 17, 2025, concurrent with the Getty-led initiative PST ART: Art & Science Collide. The opening weekend celebration includes tours, live music and art-making (Sept. 21). In conjunction with the exhibition, the Museum is organizing several related events, including a two-day symposium co-organized with Caltech (Oct. 11-12) and a film series organized by Brian R. Jacobson, professor of visual culture at Caltech (Nov. 8-29).
For more information, visit www.nortonsimon.org.
Photo credit: Robert Rauschenberg (American, 1925-2008), Green Shirt, 1965-67, neon and enameled metal, Norton Simon Museum, Gift of the Artist, © 2024 Robert Rauschenberg Foundation / Licensed by VAGA at Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY