Talk Show
6 May - 31 May 2009
A month-long season of artworks and live events addressing that central feature of human life - the act of speech
The programme, most of which is free, will activate the ICA during both daytime and evening, and is being presented in the institute's Galleries, Theatre and other spaces. It features over a hundred participants, including artists, performers and others whose activities centre on speech and vocal performance, such as linguists, speech therapists and voiceover artists. This chorus will address the primacy of the spoken word in our social and cultural landscape, and its use as a tool to produce and negotiate meaning in art, life and politics.
Many contemporary artists employ the voice as a medium, and Talk Show includes an exhibition of speech-based works in the Lower Gallery and other spaces. Meanwhile, the Upper Gallery is being used as a location for a series of artists' residencies, events that are open to the public and in which participants will research, rehearse and produce new work. The Lower Gallery and Theatre will also host performances and presentations by artists, musicians and others, a programme that promises an array of extraordinary experiences. Further events include workshops for training the voice, discussions on different aspects of language, and a conference that will call on the newest thinking in the science and sociology of speech.
Talk Show is an experiment in inter-disciplinary programming, and has been curated by the artist, writer and designer Will Holder, working together with Richard Birkett and Jennifer Thatcher of the ICA, and with the help and support of The London Consortium (a multi-disciplinary graduate programme in humanities and cultural studies). A wide range of resources are linked to the season, including a magazine containing a variety of new and reprinted texts. Many of the events will be streamed on the ICA website, as well as by other broadcasters. Finally, the ICA's new Reading Room is presenting a number of archives of spoken word recordings, allowing visitors to pursue their own research.
Roland, the magazine of the ICA's visual art programme features a guide to Talk Show in its first issue.
To accompany Talk Show the ICA has published a group of limited edition artworks and publications including a silkscreen print conceived by Will Stuart with Geoff Bailey, a special seven-colour silkscreen poster edition by Fia Backström and a publication of the collected film scripts of Chris Evans (written in collaboration with Will Bradley and Tirdad Zolghadr).
6 May - 31 May 2009 Pierre Bismuth / Paul Elliman / Chris Evans / Robert Filliou / Ryan Gander / Beatrice Gibson with Jamie McCarthy / Adam Pendleton / Falke Pisano / Seth Price / Manuel Saiz / Frances Stark / Mark Wilsher
6 - 17 May castillo/corrales
18 - 24 May Melanie Gilligan
25 - 31 May Fia Backström
26 - 31 May Plus Minus Ensemble
Performances and Presentations
6 May Robert Ashley
7 May Jeremiah Day / Simone Forti
8 May In conversation: Audio Arts
9 May Speakeasy
11 May Jimmy Robert & Ian White
14 May Interview: Audio Arts
15 May Stephen Sutcliffe
16 May School of Sound
16 & 17 May Sharon Hayes
19 May Anne-James Chaton & Andy Moor / Chris Mann / Alex Waterman
23 May Ben Cain
30 May Dexter Sinister
31 May Joan La Barbara
12 & 21 May They Give Themselves Away Every Time They Open Their Mouths
13 May The Vocal Knot
18 May Latin American Political Chants
22 May Doublespeak
28 May Effective Speaking in Groups
17 May Our Speaking Selves
10 May The Shout
17 May My Dinner With Andre
24 May The Aristocrats