About this Event
David Hockney’s work has shaped modern understanding of perception, attention, and ways of seeing for more than six decades, insisting on these as active forms of intelligence.
The Cambridge Arts Festival Gallery Crawl and The Cambridge Lectures on Art & Intelligence take place alongside the continued public presence of his work, including major exhibitions at institutions such as the Serpentine Gallery. David Hockney’s practice has long emphasised the active role of the viewer, the experience of time, and the intelligence of looking, questions that remain central as technologies increasingly mediate how the world is seen and understood. At MODO you are able to extend this inquiry into a wider conversation about human judgement, interpretation, confidence and inventive thinking in contemporary culture. OR simply look, enjoy and take it easy with a glass in your hand!
Everyone is always welcome ....... but for these two hours on the 12th - we will have a drink for you, and later opening!
Feel free to wander or to ask questions.
We are a friendly gallery looking to do gallery space differently and more inclusively.
MODO is proud to be an independent gallery aims to always hang works for every level of collector, from first time buyers to museum quality pieces. The gallery crawl is about becoming comfortable and famillar with the gallery, us and David Hockneys work, we let you feel the space at your own pace. We can't wait to meet you!
Some information on our other offerings for The Arts Festival;
MODO, is the independent Cambridge gallery that specialises solely in the work of David Hockney, alongside The Arts Festival Gallery Crawl we have announced the launch of The Cambridge Lectures on Art & Intelligence, a new public lecture series developed in collaboration with Art and Culture Education CIC (ACE CIC).
The series is rooted in the ideas that underpin Hockney’s sustained inquiry into perception, perspective, and the cultural power of images. Across his work and writing, Hockney has consistently challenged the assumption that there is a single, neutral way of seeing, arguing instead that technologies of vision, from painting and photography to film, television, and now digital systems, actively shape how reality is understood, shared, and governed.
The Cambridge Lectures on Art & Intelligence extends this inquiry into a wider public conversation. At a moment when artificial intelligence is transforming how images, information, and decisions are produced, the series asks what forms of human perception, judgement, and interpretive agency remain essential, and how they are developed, recognised, and sustained within education, culture, and industry.
The lecture programme brings together leading voices from research, education, culture, and applied inquiry. Confirmed contributors include Simon Baron-Cohen, Professor of Developmental Psychopathology at the University of Cambridge, Alexandros Tsompanidis, researcher at the Autism Research Centre, University of Cambridge, contributors connected to CETI, the Cetacean Translation Initiative exploring non-human intelligence and communication, and Eryk Salvaggio, writer and researcher examining the cultural and ethical dimensions of artificial intelligence.
Rather than positioning art as illustration or enrichment, the lecture series treats visual culture as a serious cognitive and social force, one that shapes how societies organise knowledge, authority, and innovation. It reflects a shared concern between MODO and ACE CIC that as systems become more automated, forms of human thinking rooted in perception, innovation, and judgement should be encouraged.
The Cambridge Lectures on Art & Intelligence is conceived as a multi-year public inquiry, with the series planned to continue over the next three to five years. Future programmes are expected to bring together a broad range of contributors spanning education leadership, research, cultural practice, and applied fields, building a sustained conversation rather than a one-off event.
The lectures are not framed as a debate about technology. Instead, they offer an inquiry into how human intelligence has evolved through changing image systems, and how it might continue to do so under conditions of rapid technological change.
Event Venue & Nearby Stays
MODO, 62 Sidney Street, Cambridge, United Kingdom
GBP 0.00
