© Rob Battersby

ICA

  • Art | Contemporary art
  • The Mall
  • Recommended
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Time Out says

Founded in 1947 by a collective of poets, artists and critics, the ICA moved to its current location on the Mall in 1968. Here it offers exhibitions, arthouse cinema, performance art, philosophical debates, art-themed club nights and anything else that might challenge convention. In a scene awash with controversy-seeking work, its status as art's rebel institution faltered in recent years, but with current director Stefan Kalmár – whose CV includes stints at New York’s Artists Space and Munich’s Bonner Kunstverein – having joined in 2016, the ICA has started once again to deliver. This is the place where pop art was invented, and if you catch the right show here, you just might spot the next big art movement.

Details

Address
The Mall
London
SW1Y 5AH
Transport:
Tube: Charing Cross
Price:
Admission free Tue; varies Wed-Sun
Opening hours:
Open 4-11pm Tue-Thurs; noon-11pm Fri-Sun
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What’s on

Nora Turato: pool7

3 out of 5 stars
At first encounter, Croatian-born Nora Turato’s solo exhibition pool7 at the ICA in London appears sparse, offering little of the spectacle we might expect from a contemporary installation. Entering the lower gallery, the environment feels stark, cold and clinical. Around 1,800 A4 sheets of white paper cover the walls in uniform tiles. The room feels like an empty swimming pool. On the sheets, in plain black Arial font, Turato has printed sporadic notes to self, fragments of overheard chatter and intimate overshares: ‘I’m looking to art to save me / can it’ she writes. ‘if u aint dirty / u aint here to party’, ‘girls just wanna have fun / no fun allowed it seems’.  There is nothing mundane about this unfiltered, spiralling mass of language, brought together by a mind constantly processing and reacting to the world.  In the room, I feel like I’m endlessly doom scrolling in slow-motion. pool7 is the seventh iteration of Turato’s ongoing text-based work, a continuation of her pool series in which Turato creates yearly iterations of pools lined with collections of found language drawn from media, conversations, advertising, and online content. In the next room, the tone shifts dramatically. Lit only by a warm orange glow from a ceiling light, the space is fitted with plush carpets and cushions, with a nonsensical monologue playing out in jarring screams, unhinged sobs and guttural cries throughout the room. It's the kind of reaction we are taught to suppress, except in moments...

Connecting Thin Black Lines

British artist Lubiana Himid’s work is characterised by paintings of bright interior scenes, as well as depictions of contemporary everyday life and landscapes showing overlooked aspects of history. In June, the Turner Prize-winner will curate ‘Connecting Thin Black Lines’ at the ICA, an exhibition that marks 40 years since ‘The Thin Black Line’, the landmark 1985 exhibition at the ICA in London that foregrounded a collection of young Black and Asian women artists in Britain. This iteration will bring together new and historic works by the original 11 artists, including Sonia Boyce, Claudette Johnson and Veronica Ryan, exploring legacy, collaboration, and cultural visibility, alongside archival works and new commissions.
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