The Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery has opened up its doors to a hugely ambitious new exhibition this spring, celebrating the innovative ways that technology has helped shape art. In stark contrast to the museum’s permanent collection, ‘I Want! I Want!’ delivers an explosion of modern creative expression to titillate and assault all the senses, whether that be vibrant visual imagery or an angered Plan B swearing at you through a small television. The exhibition is aptly named after a work of art by William Blake representing humankind’s ability to turn dreams into a reality. ‘I Want! I Want!’ encompasses this idea with various works of art of different mediums. Far from the child friendly jollity suggested by the title, strong language, political thinking and spectacularly trippy visuals are all on vibrant show. ‘I Want I Want’ features work from the 90’s right up until the present day including a number of artworks from the Arts Council Collection and shows us that as a society we can keep striving to break boundaries and pursue new creative endeavours. With an instalment by Ryan Gander, painting by Eddy Lamuanga Illunga and even a video game including words by Michel Foucault – by Thomson & Craighead – it’s a day out in itself.

Alongside I Want! I Want! Birmingham Museums will also be presenting the third of the Trust’s Arts Council Collection National Partner exhibitions, Katie Patterson’s Totality (2015) at Thinkspace in the Thinktank science museum. Sited next to Thinktank’s Planetarium, Totality (2015), made up of 10,000 images of the solar eclipse will illuminate and sparkle from an oversized rotating mirror ball. The collected images include the oldest found drawing of a solar eclipse from 1778, early 20th century photographs, as well as contemporary images sourced from the internet, and from the most technologically advanced telescopes.

Sat 1 Apr – Sun 1 October 2017 at The Gas Hall in The Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, Chamberlain Square, Birmingham B3 3DH. Opens week days 10am-5pm, except Fridays: 10.30am-5pm. Free. www.birminghammuseums.org.uk

Sat 27 May – Sun 1 October 2017 at Thinkspace, Thinktank, Birmingham’s Science Museum, Millennium Point, Curzon St, Birmingham B4 7XG. 10am–5pm daily. Tel: 0121 348 8000. Admission prices apply. www.birminghammuseums.org.uk