ICA

ICA (the Institute of Contemporary Arts) has been a haven of unknown and just known artists for a long time. It is a place where you can go to experience art that has not the rubber stamp of commercial acclaim already upon it. The press adoration of celebs and nostalgia and the commercial adoration of safe bets has had little to say about a place where the new is the order of the day.

As a result there has always been a problem with funding. The 'old mutual admiration' club element did nothing to spread the word and the ICA needed some spirit and life to galvanise the ICAs direction in line with the great cultural change we are in right now.

The ICA had to appoint a new Cultural Director and they made an inspired choice in a young Ghanian Ekow Eshun.

He had been energetic and effective in his fundraising activities so when he presented his case to take on the job of steering the ICA's cultural direction they re-defined the job for him - appointing a managing Director to administrate the Institute's affairs. This has left Ekow free to apply his passion to keeping the cultural centre alive with the new - the now.

The critics will never be spoon fed with 'a point' or 'a direction' let alone 'a trend'. It is a place where they and indeed all visitors will be left with their own experience and have to make their own judgements based upon that - rather than what other people think.


Richard Benson, who worked with Eckow on The Face in the early Nineties commented on how he had a way of recognising modern artists (for example Gavin Turk and Marc Quinn) before others had 'heard of them', He said "He has that pop sensibility."

Ekow said in a piece in the Observer "This is one of those moments of extraordinary cultural change, which we need to understand. We don't need to retreat into the comfort zone of an imaginary past. The ICA isn't afraid of controversy but it isn't here to tickle the jaded palates of journalists. It's here to help us reimagine who and what we are".

His attention has been on art from many other countries which is appropriate to the change we are a part of. it's too late to think that we 'face' a challenge - we did that in the seventies. Now we are in the eye of the storm and the courage to see art in a new light is needed by all those who appreciate the fact that the future is here.

The fear of change has held humanity back from innovation symbolised by Socrates being sentenced to drink hemlock for impiety. However this can only be due to fear of everything from bird flu to meteorites. Optimism is a rare thing and it appears to be at the heart of the work of the ICA - if only in the comment from Eckow,

"It's clear that some people are scared that the new world may be different from the past. What they forget is that it might turn out to be better".

There are so many events, lectures, film showings and exhibitions that you need to keep up by going to their Web site to check - best of all is to just go and experience the new change in art for yourself.