ICA is closed from the 30 May – 3 June inclusive.
8 June – 18 September 2022
TERRIBLE THINGS HAPPEN AND THERE IS NOTHING YOU CAN DO.
TERRIBLE THINGS HAPPEN AND YOU DO NOTHING.
TERRIBLE THINGS HAPPEN AND YOU DO NOTHING.
‘Her work is variously funny-sad, sexy-sad, comforting-sad, politically furious and excellently freaky.’
‘An important affirmation on the power of creativity in the face of austerity, desperation and inadequate systematic support.’
Penny World is an exhibition spanning the last 30 years of work by London artist and poet Penny Goring. This is the artist’s first solo exhibition in a public institution and includes a selection of art works from her expansive practice. Presented here are vividly coloured paintings and sculptures, self-portraits and drawings, and darkly humorous digital collages and videos. Relentlessly direct, the artist’s poetry is entangled throughout – appearing in titles and stitched onto her fabric sculptures.
These works stem from the artist’s personal processing of trauma and experiences of violence, conveying emotions associated with states of grief, fear, loss, panic and powerlessness. Making art compulsively and working freely across mediums, Goring’s repeated images and words detail the artist’s invented mythologies. These drawings and paintings interweave personal experiences with images from history and contemporary culture.
Goring works from her home using modest materials – ballpoint pens, fabric, food dye – and free computer programmes such as Microsoft Paint. Her practice has been shaped by restrictive housing conditions, lack of funds and inadequate therapeutic support. Viewed in the context of the UK’s cost-of-living crisis, Penny World attests to the long-term effects of financial precarity and asserts the power of creativity in the face of austerity.
Above photographs © Anne Tetzlaff
Penny Goring (b. 1962) lives and works in London. She graduated from Kingston School of Art in 1994 and has exhibited at Tate St Ives; the Museum of Modern Art, Warsaw; South London Gallery and Arcadia Missa, London. Goring has published many poems and books online and performed her poetry at the ICA in 2015.
Main image: I was a Visionary for Boudica, Penny Goring, 2015. Courtesy of the artist
Black heart: Click the black heart to view a gallery of gifs made by Penny Goring between 2013 – 16. Click the heart again to turn off the gifs.
Ticket information
- All tickets that do not require ID (full price, disabled, income support) can be printed at home or stored in email
- For aged-based concession tickets (under 25, student and pensioner) please bring relevant ID to collect at the front desk before the event.
Open to the public from 12 – 9pm, Tuesday – Sunday
Free exhibition entry with every ticket to the Cinema or Theatre
Red Members gain unlimited access to all exhibitions, films, talks, performances and Cinema 3.
Join today for £20/month.
£5, free for ICA Members & every Tuesday
Programme
9 June – 18 September
Daily introductions to Penny World and a chance for discussion with ICA Public Advisors.
Wednesday 13 July
An evening of spoken word from poets and artists including Penny Goring.
Wednesday 10 August
ICA Curator Rosalie Doubal leads a tour of the exhibition, offering insights into the exhibition and introducing the work of London artist and poet Penny Goring.
Wednesday 7 September
ICA Curator Rosalie Doubal leads a tour of the exhibition, with BSL interpretation.
Until 18 September
Free tours led by exhibition curators for educational and youth organisations.
Red Members gain unlimited access to all exhibitions, films, talks, performances and Cinema 3.
Join today for £20/month.
Exhibition Leaflet
Transcripts of ‘Fear’, 2013, and ‘Please Make Me Love You’, 2014
Shop: ‘Inflatable Dress of Despair (Heart)’, 2022
Penny Goring, pour, 2013. Digital artwork originally presented on web platform Newhive, restored
Red Members gain unlimited access to all exhibitions, films, talks, performances and Cinema 3.
Join today for £20/month.
no. 236848.