MODO

08/03/2026

For International Women’s Day, we’re looking at Celia Birtwell — artist, designer, collaborator, and one of the most enduring presences in David Hockney’s portraiture.

Best known to many through Mr and Mrs Clark and Percy, Birtwell was never simply a sitter. Her prints, style, intelligence, and long friendship with Hockney helped shape some of the most recognisable images in modern British art.

Mr and Mrs Clark and Percy is widely seen as a glamorous society portrait.
But it is quietly radical.

Hockney deliberately places Celia at the compositional and psychological centre of the painting. She stands upright, self-possessed and emotionally assured, while Ossie sits lower, turned inward. Through posture, spacing, and gaze, the traditional balance of marital portraiture is subtly reversed.

She is not ornamental.
She anchors the composition.

What many don’t realise is that Birtwell’s textile designs, colour sense, and pattern language actively shaped the pictorial atmosphere of Hockney’s work. Her dresses were never incidental — they introduced rhythm, surface, and visual complexity that became structural elements within the compositions.

You’re not just looking at Celia.
You’re seeing Celia’s design mind inside the picture.

She stands not behind the image, but powerfully within it.

15/02/2026

The Cambridge Lectures on Art & Intelligence: Last lecture under Hockney’s Normandy - PROJECT CETI, Whales research and understanding whale speak! This Wednesday 7:00pm at MODO - Last few tickets available. Don’t miss it - Book now. 🔗 in bio or copy here. https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/perceptions-beyond-human-evolution-whale-intelligence-ai-project-ceti-tickets-1981940703998?utm_experiment=test_share_listing&aff=ebdsshios&sg=741af8482de752b1b34900aaffbda076b5aa218ae857d3204150e347b861ecac3f774ee48ea058d5da42dd6de2808ff926e67da91a80b61619bcc4c6b1f48c550c27bc6fcde1dc04523552be8318

08/02/2026

David Hockney has spent decades questioning how we see.
At a moment when artificial intelligence is transforming how images, information, and decisions are produced, The Cambridge Lectures on Art and Intelligence extend that inquiry into a public conversation about which forms of human perception, judgement, and agency remain essential, and how they are developed and sustained across education, culture, and industry, alongside the permanent presence of Hockney’s work.

“If innovation is to remain human led, we have to take perception seriously, not as aesthetics, but as intelligence,” says Sally Clark, Director and Curator of MODO.

06/02/2026

David 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 and shared. The Cambridge Lectures on Art & Intelligence extends this inquiry into a wider public conversation with Andrew Osmant, Cambridge Mechatronics. The lecture asks how human cognition changes when aspects of seeing and remembering are shared with machines.

05/02/2026

When Physics Meets Art with Andy Osmant, Cambridge
Mechatronics. How submicron mechanics & Al imaging are unlocking a new era of creativity and reshaping cognitive evolution. Book now. Link@in bio - 12 Feb at 7:30pm at MODO. https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/when-physics-meets-art-with-andy-osmant-cambridge-mechatronics-tickets-1981947159306?utm_experiment=test_share_listing&aff=ebdsshios&sg=502cbf5c41e1aef31d371ac470b524a16bfa759bcba2948e928f3ba706481275fd3dec7c6132a9495336bddfc65be89065df3e45a3a12177d90bc484cc600396d97edcbfad5e7c2425afa2296900

26/01/2026

A public lecture series exploring how human intelligence evolves alongside AI, from education to industry, inovation, and the future economy
A public lecture series bringing scientists, educators, industry thinkers, students, artists and the public together in conversation about how human intelligence has evolved, how creative minds have historically driven social and economic progress, and what AI may mean for the next phase of collective thought, not just for us but for generations coming through the education system.

Lecture Series dates vary from 8th to 18th February.

FREE Pre-registeration NOW OPEN - recieve preferential tickets and priorty booking!!
MODO Announces The Cambridge Lectures on Art & Intelligence, a Long-Term Public Lecture Series Developed with Art and Culture Education CIC

MODO, is the independent Cambridge gallery that specialises solely in the work of David Hockney, 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 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, interpretation, and judgement must not be marginalised.

A public lecture series exploring how human intelligence evolves alongside AI, from education to industry, inovation, and the future economy