Elisa Giardina Papa at the ICA
Image: Elisa Giardina Papa, She Flickered In and Out of History, 2026. Video installation, 18 minutes, variable dimensions. Still from the video. Courtesy of the artist. ‘She Flickered in and Out of History’ is a small-scale solo exhibition by New York and Sicily-based artist, Elisa Giardina Papa, at the ICA in London. By small in scale, I refer to the fact that it is based in a single room, which is unusual for shows at the ICA given the expanse of its stunning Grade I listed architecture on The Mall in central London. Despite this, the exhibition, which consists of a central video work accompanied by glass sculptures positioned around the gallery, feels like a show that is creaking with intellectual potential at its own seams. Giardina Papa’s research into an island off the coast of Sicily and Tunisia which emerged as a direct result of a volcanic eruption in 1831, only to disappear back underwater five months later, feels both geologically alarming and politically provoc...
