Nora Turato – pool7  (ICA London, Apr–Jun 2025)

Before we begin i would like for you as the viewer to consider what audience comes to mind when we think of contemporary Art? young people. people that can be easily influenced and as an artist, a psychology student and researcher myself i believe what was displayed at the gallery and labelled as art and expressionism was just a poor excuse to advertise concepts, themes, imagery and language that can push viewers towards extremist acts such as self harm and harm to others if displayed to the mentally vulnerable and easily influenced. if not in the correct mindset or under the influence for the small price of £5 these themes that The Institute of Contemporary Art has approved to be displayed publicly to all age groups until 11 pm 6 days per week can have severe consequences to the unknowing consumer. it is reckless and inconsiderate for such an exhibition to be displayed in a severely public location such as central London where people of all walks of life can be influenced. it is sickening that such an exhibition is supported by the Embassy of Netherlands, the Mondriaan fund and accepted by such a public institute ( Institute of Contemporary Art ). it is not art if it causes harm to the public or propagates harmful ideologies even if it is done in the name of Art and expression and a stop should be put to such content immediately. I can tell you from first hand experience some individuals who roam the streets of London at 11 pm are extremely vulnerable to self harm and such an art experience could be the last tick before they decide to harm themselves or others. As a fellow British national i urge you to consider putting a stop to this so called “contemporary art” audio-visual propaganda. And to Andrea Nitsche-Krupp (ICA Senior Curator) who approved of such explicit and harmful content, you should be ashamed of yourself.

what is Nora Turato pool7 exhibition about ?

Nora Turato’s pool 7 is a site-specific installation in the ICA’s Lower Galleries, combining text, video, audio and live performance. It is her first UK solo show and the seventh in her ongoing “pool” series. The artistic theme centers on language and the body: Turato “investigates our collective relationship to language, exposing the ideologies, failures and pleasures that characterise communication today”ica.art. The galleries are lined with about 1,800 A4 sheets of Turato’s own writing (found and original text), forming a “text-driven landscape” of contemporary media, wellness slogans and private musings cntraveller.com ica.art. The exhibition includes two video installations (eight screens showing Turato’s unedited vocal warm-up gestures) and a 15-minute audio piece. In the audio chamber (lit only by a dim orange light and with plush carpets/cushions) Turato’s recorded voice repeats words in varying rhythms and registers, culminating in an unscripted performance of raw emotion – “jarring screams, unhinged sobs and guttural cries” followed by negative language to externalise feelings normally suppressed timeout.com ica.art. As the ICA curator notes, Turato’s work “confronts our shared contemporary condition as it manifests in language and within our bodies, with vulnerability, humour and devastating common sense”ica.art.

Turato explains that pool7 is more diaristic than earlier works, partly reclaiming language for herself. The Dazed interview describes how she set up a “pitch-black” audio room where her voice loops and contorts (the “Logic Freeze” installation) and multi-channel video loops of her straining her neck, opening her mouth wide, etc., to explore “the ‘waning wisdom of the body’” and the limits of verbal communication dazeddigital.com. Critics interpret this as a study of modern “hyperconnectivity” and the breakdown of coherent self-expression in late-stage capitalism cntraveller.com timeout.com. In sum, pool7 is widely seen as a bold, visceral meditation on communication – a “text-based lesson in expression as purgation”erajournal.co.uk ica.art rather than a conventional narrative or image-driven show.

Commissioning and Curatorial Context

pool7 was commissioned by the ICA and presented as a major new project. The ICA press and reviews note that the show was a bespoke, site-specific commission for the museum erajournal.co.uk ica.art. The project was supported by Dutch cultural funding: the Mondriaan Fund and the Embassy of the Netherlands in London appear as backers on ICA materials ica.art. The exhibition was curated by Andrea Nitsche-Krupp (ICA Senior Curator), who led its development and a final artist talk ica.art erajournal.co.uk. (Nitsche-Krupp is quoted describing Turato’s work as addressing “language and within our bodies” with humor and blunt honesty ica.art.) In short, pool7 is an official ICA commission under its regular programming (the ICA being a publicly funded contemporary art institution), with no indication of external censorship or unusual oversight in its approval.

Reception and Review Highlights

The exhibition has received generally positive-to-mixed reviews in the art press. Critics highlight Turato’s fearless combination of text and performance.  Art Review notes her interrogation of authenticity in language; for example, Turato’s wall texts contain candid lines (“I fill the words… I don’t need to be filled with words”) and her monologue even exclaims “All those fucking words” during a vocal breakdown artreview.com. CN Traveller (Conde Nast) praises pool7 as “a vivid installation that’s equal parts performance, typography and psychological study,” in which Turato “dismantles image-worship in favour of visceral, lived communication.” By the end of the show (its final performance), she is “tapping into raw emotion, emitting cries, sobs, and gestures to provoke all-too-often suppressed reactions” cntraveller.com. Time Out London gives it 3/5 stars – recommending the show – and remarks that the visitor is “submerged in a shallow pool of overstimulated thought.” Its reviewer felt the exhibition was ambitious in scale (1,800 pages of text) and noted the contrast between the comforting carpeted room and the unsettling screams timeout.com. (That review also observes that the work, while culturally timely, “ultimately stops short of offering a perspective that feels particularly new or revelatory” timeout.com.)

The Era Journal (UCL student magazine) describes pool7 as “a lesson in expression” and emphasises its intensity: Turato “expounds freedom of expression with the volume turned up” erajournal.co.uk. It notes humorous asides in the text (“Mickey Mouse can’t have sex”) and blunt observations on wellness culture, showing Turato’s “free-associative” voice erajournal.co.uk. In interviews Turato herself underscores that she’s interested in how language fills the body “how words get filled through tone and energy”dazeddigital.com and in allowing uncomfortable content (“A lot of shit can swim to the surface when we make art or write poetry”) dazeddigital.com. Overall, press coverage portrays pool7 as an energetic, cathartic project that many visitors find powerful. Key quotes from critics include: it is “equal parts performance, typography and psychological study”cntraveller.com and it “communicates communication”erajournal.co.uk.

Foul Language and Explicit Content

Several reviewers explicitly mention Turato’s profanity and graphic elements. For instance, ArtReview transcribes her recorded lines like “I drowned in words… All those fucking words” artreview.com. The Era Journal notes text fragments including “shit and bullshit” on the gallery walls erajournal.co.uk. (Turato’s own comments in Dazed about letting “a lot of shit… swim to the surface”dazeddigital.com underline that this raw language is intentional, not gratuitous.) The ICA’s description admits the live performances will include “cries, screams and sobs” alongside her writing, meant to unearth emotional reactions ica.art. In short, the show does contain strong language and visceral sounds as part of its artistic strategy artreview.com ica.art.

None of the available sources report any formal complaints about this explicit content. All press coverage treats the profanity and noise as artistic devices. For example, Time Out recounts the “unhinged sobs and guttural cries” in context of Turato’s intent to externalise feelings timeout.com, rather than characterising them as “negative imagery.” Similarly, critics quote the extreme vocalisations but present them as cathartic or probing (e.g. provoking “suppressed reactions”cntraveller.com). Importantly, no museum notice or review flags these elements as inappropriate; there is no record of the ICA posting an age restriction or content warning on pool7.

Influence on Vulnerable Audiences and Mental Health

We found no evidence in the sources of any links between pool7 and harmful influence on young, vulnerable or mentally ill individuals. The exhibition was advertised as a standard ICA ticketed show (with concession rates) but without any special age advisory. In fact, reviewers emphasise that pool7 is a personal exploration of anxiety and embodiment, not an ideology or call to action however although that is said to be the intent, the negative influence it can have on the easily influenced and the mentally weak can have severe impact on viewers. The CN Traveller piece even frames it as a “psychological study” of contemporary life through language cntraveller.com. Turato explicitly discusses her work in terms of reclaiming her own language and “figuring out something lost” in herself dazeddigital.com. None of this suggests outreach to, or impact on, vulnerable people beyond normal art experiences however the people that can consume and access such negative propaganda can be influenced towards extremist acts as a proud British National i dont want my people to consume such negativity.

Likewise, no source links the show to self-harm or extremist content. The content is mostly banal or introspective (wellness clichés, pop culture phrases, personal musings) artreview.com timeout.com. For example, ArtReview highlights Turato’s use of corporate buzzwords (“Mobility. Longevity. Transparency. Community.”) to comment on language change artreview.com hardly extremist. The angry outbursts occur in a controlled art context, and the reviewers do not interpret them as encouragement of harm; rather, they see them as confronting the pressure to repress emotion ica.art cntraveller.com. In short, none of the credible reviews or reports we found raise any mental-health warnings about pool7 however experiencing the gallery personally i can disagree and say otherwise. This instalment is a risk to the public

Public or Institutional Criticisms (Controversies)

To date, there is no evidence in credible public sources of any organized controversy over pool7. We found no news articles or press releases from advocacy groups, nor any official statements calling for changes or cancellation. Arts coverage focuses entirely on the content of the work and Turato’s process ica.artcntraveller.com and does not consider the negative impacts it can have on viewers. In particular, Art Review, Time Out, Dazed, CN Traveller, Era Journal, etc., discuss the exhibition’s themes and style, not any external backlash. For example, ArtReview provides an in-depth analysis of its language experiments, with not a word about protests or objections artreview.com.

In sum, while pool7 contains negative language and distressing sound, all such elements are documented as part of the artist’s intentional expression which i call careless and inconsiderate becouse what was displayed at the gallery was a heavily influential audiovisual experience that can have the same or worse effects on the consumer. No sources suggest these have sparked any formal criticism. If individual visitors felt upset, it has not become part of the public record. For example, Time Out even notes that Turato’s performance “allows us to recognise ourselves in the work… only from a safe distance”timeout.com, implying that the experience is meant to provoke thought rather than to harm. We also note that pool7 was backed by reputable cultural bodies (ICA, Mondriaan Fund, Dutch embassy) ica.arterajournal.co.uk, and none of these would endorse it if it were deemed dangerous or inappropriate however i urge you to have a mind of your own and consider the people not in a good mental state and the easily influenced individuals such as young people.

Sources: Exhibition descriptions (ICA), press interviews and critical reviews in ArtReview, Time Out, CN Traveller, Dazed, Era Journal and others ica.art ica.art artreview.com erajournal.co.uk timeout.com cntraveller.com dazeddigital.com. These document the show’s themes and note its explicit content; none report any official complaints or links to harm. Each citation is from a publicly available publication or the ICA itself which means it can be biased. i urge you to view the exhibition yourself and i am sure you will be against the promotion of such content.

References

ArtReview. (2025, April 16). Nora Turato: pool7. ArtReview. https://artreview.com/nora-turato-pool7-ica-london-review/

CN Traveller. (2025, April 8). Nora Turato’s pool7 opens at the ICA London. Conde Nast Traveller. https://www.cntraveller.com/article/nora-turato-pool7

Dazed. (2025, April 12). Nora Turato on breaking language and making meaning in pool7. Dazed Digital. https://www.dazeddigital.com/art/article/62031/1/nora-turato-interview-ica-pool7

Era Journal. (2025, April 10). A text-based lesson in expression: Nora Turato’s pool7 at the ICA. University College London. https://www.era-journal.com/nora-turato-ica-pool7-review

Institute of Contemporary Arts. (2025). Nora Turato: pool7. ICA London. https://www.ica.art/exhibitions/nora-turato-pool7

Nitsche-Krupp, A. (2025, April 5). Nora Turato: Artist Talk. [Public program]. Institute of Contemporary Arts, London.

Time Out London. (2025, April 15). Nora Turato: pool7 at the ICA review – a text deluge, with screams. Time Out. https://www.timeout.com/london/art/nora-turato-pool7-review