Discover fantastical narratives and the covert, unseen forces at work in the world through Suzanne Treister’s explorations of society’s relationship to technology.
Prophetic Dreaming is the first major institutional retrospective by pioneering digital and para-disciplinary artist Suzanne Treister (b. 1958). Spanning more than forty years, the exhibition maps Treister’s visionary practice and investigations into new technologies, networks of power, alternative belief systems, and the futures they prefigure.
From the prophetic early paintings of the 1980s to her groundbreaking digital works of the 1990s, the exhibition charts Treister’s evolution through key projects including those of her time-travelling alter ego Rosalind Brodsky, and the influential HEXEN 2.0 series, a Tarot deck and group of alchemical diagrams connecting cybernetics, surveillance, countercultural movements and internet histories. Her recent project, HEXEN 5.0 (2023-25) continues this trajectory, critically examining AI, the climate crisis, and quantum science.
Prophetic Dreaming highlights the many astonishing, sometimes humorous and often unsettling moments of premonition which have recurred throughout Treister’s career. The exhibition reveals her prescient practice as a means of comprehending the complexities of the present while imagining new possibilities for what is yet to come.
Tickets for the exhibition are available in the Shop, no pre-booking required. Read our Terms and Conditions.
Full price: £9.50
Concessions: £7
Friends of Modern Art Oxford get free entry. Join as a Friend.
Suzanne Treister: Prophetic Dreaming is accompanied by a major new publication co-published with cosmogenesis that includes contributions from Lars Bang Larsen, Patricia Domínguez and Val Ravaglia.
Discover family-friendly activities linked to the exhibition in The Studio and our Activity Backpacks. Children aged under 12 receive free entry to this exhibition. Learn more in the drop-down below.
Suzanne Treister (b. 1958) has been a pioneer in digital, new media, and web-based media art since the late 1980s. Often spanning several years, her projects comprise fantastic reinterpretations of given taxonomies and histories, whether corporate, military, or paranormal. Working across the permeable boundary separating the frontiers of scientific inquiry from mystical revelation, her projects interrogate relationships between emerging technologies, society and alternative belief systems to suggest unseen forces that shape our present reality and have implications for the future that we are only beginning to understand.
Treister studied at St Martin’s School of Art, London (1978-1981) and Chelsea College of Art and Design, London (1981-1982) and currently lives and works in London. Recent exhibitions include solo and group shows at: Tate Modern, UK (2024); 14th Shanghai Biennale (2023); Helsinki Biennial (2023), High Line, New York (2022); 7th Athens Biennale; Muzeum Sztuki, Lodz, Poland (2021), Schirn Kunsthalle, Frankfurt (2020); Moderna Museet, Stockholm, Sweden; 16th Istanbul Biennial (2019); Centre Pompidou, Paris (2015). Recent Commissions and Awards include: Digital Commission, Serpentine Galleries, London, England (2019); COLLIDE International Award, CERN Geneva/FACT UK (2018); The Spaceships of Bordeaux, Bordeaux, France (2013-22). Treister’s work is held in private and public collections including Tate Britain; Science Museum, London; Centre Pompidou, Paris; Muzeum Sztuki, Łódź, Poland and Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary, Vienna.
The Studio is a family-friendly space for all ages to explore the themes of Suzanne Treister: Prophetic Dreaming. Design costumes inspired by Treister’s time-travelling alter ego Rosalind Brodsky and create your own tarot cards. Explore the past, present, and future, and alternative worlds. Free activity sheets and backpacks are available to guide you through the exhibition – perfect for families.
Take instant-print photographs, leave a message for future visitors, try a new storytelling game, and unleash your alter-ego. Our activity backpacks are specially designed to help you explore the themes of the exhibition as a family.
These activities are most suitable for children ages 3 and up. Please ensure children of all ages are supervised with the activities at all times.
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