Despite the pain, the sorrow, the agony, the despair, the self-loathing and horror going on, this exhibition at Tate Britain will leave only the most resolutely dried up anti-human cold. Ed Atkins isn’t necessarily an easy artist, but, as they say, to know him is to love him and this show brings you right in close.
For all the CGI and AI employed by Atkins in his work, it’s the humanity of him that shines through. Using computers to express himself is not a trendy gimmick or any kind of end in itself, these are tools used in his restless search for expression, and rarely prove up to the job; Atkins has a mordant fascination with this.
