Go deep into the “archaeological sub strata” of modern electronic music.

East London’s Whitechapel Gallery will start 2016 with a major exhibition looking at the impact of computers and the internet on artists from the mid-1960s to the present day.

Electronic Superhighway features work from over 70 artists including Nam June Paik, Douglas Coupland and James Bridle, and opens on January 29. Alongside the main exhibition, a series of related projects are on show at the gallery, including a collaboration between Mark Fell, the experimental Editions Mego operative and alumnus of influential electronic minimalists snd, and Glasgow-based artist and film-maker Luke Fowler, who are exploring the more esoteric history of computer music.

The gallery explains: “Focussing on two historic computer music languages that have been obscured by more commercially viable options, the duo look at how computers began to impact and shape music making, while experimenting with unfamiliar techniques involving algorithms, non-standard timing and tuning tables.

“The exhibition looks at how the use of computers began to shape music-making through experimentation with unfamiliar techniques involving mathematical structures, data and unusual forms of interaction. These methods are buried deep in the archaeological sub strata of today’s electronic music. Working across visual arts and music, the display becomes a tool for local students to experiment with computer-based composition.”

‘Luke Fowler and Mark Fell: Computers and Cooperative Music-Making’ is open now and runs until February 7. It’s free to attend – get more information from Whitechapel Gallery.

Watch a film about Get Out of the Defensive Position, Mark Fell’s Unsound installation inspired by William Burroughs and Brion Gysin’s trip-inducing Dream Machine, and dig deep into Fell’s influential catalogue with our Beginner’s Guide to snd.