Museum report·London
Autumn Knight Turns Complaint Into Art in First Major UK Exhibition at the ICA
I Can't Complain, on view at the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London from September 29 to November 29, 2026, is New York-based artist Autumn Knight's first major UK presentation, reframing complaint as a tool for examining power and voice.

The Institute of Contemporary Arts in London has opened the first major UK presentation of Autumn Knight, the New York-based interdisciplinary artist whose work moves across performance, installation, video, and social exchange. Titled I Can't Complain, the exhibition fills the ICA's Lower Galleries from September 29 to November 29, 2026. Knight treats complaining not merely as an expression of dissatisfaction but as a lens onto who is heard, who is permitted to speak, and what minor grievances might reveal about larger social and systemic conditions. Drawing on theatre, psychology, improvisation, and the dynamics of human interaction, the project asks audiences to consider what becomes visible when complaint is taken seriously. Across the Lower Galleries, an audio and spatial installation creates an environment shaped by humour, intimacy, and discomfort. A canopy of balloons—a recurring motif in Knight's practice—hangs alongside architectural elements framing recorded conversations with participants about their everyday frustrations. Recent video works extend these investigations, while live performances staged throughout the run bring Knight's inquiries directly into dialogue with visitors. Rather than searching for resolution, I Can't Complain gives dissatisfaction room to breathe. In a cultural moment saturated with grievance, Knight reframes it as a productive force: a way of exposing the negotiations of power embedded in ordinary encounters and asking how speaking, listening, and responding might be reimagined.


