In an enjoyably frank audioguide to this show, Morag Keil explains that it contains “mostly old work remade because I found it daunting to make new work for the ICA” — an unusually personal and disarming thought to encounter in a big public exhibition.
And the connection between private experience and the public realm is a recurring Keil theme.
Her Instagram posts, printed and set in window frames, form a pathway on the floor between works. You have to peep into a locked room to view a video piece.
In Potpourri, a video shown on a desktop computer workstation, humdrum domestic and street scenes are accompanied by text from a porn social media site, and Tulisa’s emotional YouTube statement about an online sex tape.
Gender roles are another refrain: the male and female shouts and screams in the fighting video game Tekken feature amid a cacophonous din in a sound work; the AI Alexa’s voice, gendered for submission, features in the video behind that locked door.
There are also paintings and “goofy” sculptures, in Keil’s words. It’s so disparate you might think it was a group show.
And it makes for an uneven, disengaging experience; much to ponder and admire, little to enthral and exhilarate.
Until April 14 (020 7930 0493, ica.art)
