Sehgal's final instalment is child's play

Child’s play: Children actively encouraged to talk to adult strangers at the exhibition
Fisun Guner|Metro5 April 2012

The ICA Gallery has been turned into a playground. Primary school pupils in yellow school jerseys are chasing each other, playing games, and generally making a bit of a racket.

And, if they're not making a racket, then they can be seen hugging the walls in clusters to appear indifferently cool in the face of being living exhibits. Good on them.

Confronted with all these exuberant children, I, too, can be found hugging a wall. But then I am forced to 'interact' when two little girls come up to me. A prepared statement, in which the exhibition is named 'a success', is given by one. Ah well, this firmly puts critics in their place, I guess.

This is the third and last instalment of Tino Sehgal's interactive 'displays' at the ICA and the meagre star rating should in no way reflect the faultless participation of the children, who are just being themselves, more or less.

Furthermore, one kind of gets where Sehgal may be coming from - where else, after all, are children actively encouraged to talk to adult strangers?

But as an act of 'subversion' surely it's all a bit lame. Certainly, the typical ICA crowd this will attract are just too art savvy to think this a genuinely thought-provoking piece. For where once the pushing of boundaries in art gave the ICA its purpose, that very concept now appears extremely tired.

Until Mar 4, ICA Galleries, The Mall SW1, daily noon to 7.30pm, Mon to Fri £2, £1.50 concs, Sat and Sun £3, £2 concs. Tel: 020 7930 3647. www.ica.org.uk Tube: Charing Cross/Piccadilly Circus

Tino Sehgal
ICA Gallery
The Mall, SW1Y 5AH

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in