17 July – 6 September 2026

She Flickered  In and Out of History is a new video and mixed-media installation by interdisciplinary artist Elisa Giardina Papa (b. Italy; lives and works in New York, U.S., and Sant’Ignazio, Sicily).  
 
In 1831, an underwater volcanic eruption gave rise to a new landform between Tunisia and Sicily, sparking a violent sovereignty dispute among European powers. Six months later, the island vanished beneath the surface. She Flickered In and Out of History explores the geological, mythological and political temporalities of the Mediterranean through the historical and speculative story of this island that refused to be annexed. 

Exhibition design by 2050+ (Sara Barbini, Francesca Lantieri, Ippolito Pestellini Laparelli).

More info

Giardina Papa filmed the work on Mount Etna, Stromboli, and along the submerged slopes of the Mediterranean volcanic islands. It is presented on a large, free-standing LED screen, alongside a series of sculptures and photographs. A poem, spoken in Sicilian and set to an original score by New York-based composer duendita, threads through the visual narrative, weaving together historical records with reflections on decolonial and queer temporalities. The poem, composed by Megan Fernandes from Giardina Papa’s film script and archival research, lyrically deliberates on the island’s eruptive emergence and subsequent refusal. 

Sculptures made from hand-shaped glass and cotisso, a raw, unstable glass traditionally destined for remelting in Murano furnaces, materialise another strand of the island’s story. In deep, saturated hues, they embody the last stanza of the poem, which draws on historical observations of the altered colour of the sun following the 1831 underwater eruption. Caused by the release of volcanic particles and sulphur aerosols into the atmosphere, observers from the Mediterranean to the Middle East and the Caribbean reported seeing blue, green, and purple suns.

Following U Scantu: A Disorderly Tale (2022), which premiered at the 59th Venice Biennale, She Flickered In and Out of History forms part of a trilogy of video installations exploring forgotten Mediterranean histories. It is Giardina Papa’s newest body of work in her ongoing investigation into forms of knowledge and desire that have been lost or neglected.

About the artist

Elisa Giardina Papa’s research-based art practice seeks forms of knowledge and desire that have been disqualified and rendered nonsensical by hegemonic demands for order and legibility. Through a critical yet poetic approach, she works across large-scale video installation, experimental film, and ceramic and glass sculptures, to draw attention to those aspects of our lives which remain radically unruly, untranslatable, and incomputable.

Her work has been exhibited and screened at the 59th Biennale di Venezia, MoMA, the Whitney Museum of American Art, Gropius Bau, ICA London, Vienna Secession, HKW Berlin, Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt, Seoul Mediacity Biennale, the 6th Buenos Aires Bienal de la Imagen en Movimiento, M+ Hong Kong, among others. 

Giardina Papa is also a founding member of the artist collective Radha May. Together with Indian artist Nupur Mathur and Ugandan artist Bathsheba Okwenje, they develop performances and art installations that reveal hidden histories and peripheral sites, exploring their relation to gender, sexuality, and the legacies of colonialism.  

Giardina Papa received an MFA from RISD, a PhD in Film, Media, and Gender Studies from the University of California, Berkeley. She lives and works in New York and Sant’Ignazio, Sicily.
 

Supporters

The exhibition at ICA is generously supported by the Christian Levett Collection and Musée FAMM Mougins.

The project is supported by the Italian Council programme (2024), promoted by the Directorate-General for Contemporary Creativity of the Italian Ministry of Culture; the Bogotá Museum of Modern Art (MAMBO); the Malcolm S. Forbes Center for Culture & Media Studies, Department of Modern Culture and Media, Brown University; the Humanities Research Fund, Brown University; MACTE, Museo di Arte Contemporanea di Termoli; the Italian Cultural Institute in London; and Michele Cristella.

Thu 16 Jul, 7:30pm
Exhibition Preview: She Flickered In and Out of History
Exhibition preview

Sat 18 Jul, 2pm
Artist Talk: Elisa Giardina Papa in conversation with Erika Balsom
Artist talk

Wed 22 Jul, 6:30pm
Indeterminate Ecologies: Islands of Fire, It's Raining Frogs Outside, Mekong Hotel and Barbs, Wastelands
Screening

Wed 29 Jul, 6:30pm
Monisme
Screening

Tue 11 Aug, 6:30pm
Members' Curator Tour: She Flickered In and Out of History
Curator tour

Wed 12 Aug, 6:30pm
Aqua-cinema: L’Hippocampe, L’atalante and Moon’s Pool
Screening

Wed 26 Aug, 6:30pm
Dahomey
Screening

Wed 2 Sep, 6:30pm
No Island Is an Elsewhere
Screening

Ticket prices

Full Price
£7.50 (inc. £1.50 donation)*
£6.00 (without donation)

Concessions (18 to 24-year-olds, disabled, pensioners, students)
£4.50 (inc. £0.50 donation)*
£4.00 (without donation)

Concessions (Art Fund, Disabled Companion, Under 18s, Visitors with Income Support)
Free

*There are no booking fees for this exhibition. However, an optional donation will help support the ICA’s programme. See Donations and Gift Aid for more information.

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