I love the ICA. Ever since Charlie introduced me to London’s underground mainstream arts centre I’ve been a regular visitor, in awe of the £15 magazines and the often insane exhibitions that they put on. Though the gallery has had some difficulties in the past few years, mainly involving losing lots and lots of money, there has been some good news. For one, it’s now open on Tuesdays.
Sadly, though after visiting the gallery on a recent Tuesday it seems that opening hours may be the least of the ICA’s worries. Unlike when I first visited five years ago, the ICA feels more like a museum than a contemporary art gallery. Their current exhibition: ‘Remote Control’ explores the way that television changed the art world. Great, right? The only problem is that all the videos shown were recorded circa 1979. I guess it’s not a problem if a gallery wants to focus on the past; but the ICA feels out of touch, rather than offering a considered retrospective. Gallery visitors watch the videos as a novelty- often only watching each video for 15 seconds or so. And, to be honest, who cares about TV when art is facing its biggest challenges today from the Internet and modern technology. Though there is some engagement with these new technologies, it is limited to one of the most cynical pieces I’ve seen in some time. Called ‘Red Alert’ it is three apple branded screens side by side, all showing red. Just red.
The ICA’s new pride and joy, the studio, is meant to be the engine room of the gallery, igniting and encouraging debate. To understand the problems with the ICA and to an extent the problems with contemporary art in general you only need to have one look at it ; lying empty and bare, with 1970s press cuttings describing how radical and free thinking the establishment is. In essence, the gallery’s past success has prevented it from being radical today. Today, they cater mainly for tourists and old Guardian readers, pretty much as bourgeois as it gets.
