Among many good things, The ICA Is 75 – cause for a celebration

Partnerships

Among many good things, The ICA Is 75 – cause for a celebration

Ground-breaking, avant-garde, boundary-pushing, experimental, whatever your choice of commendatory adjective, when you look at the Institute of Contemporary Arts’ impressive history, it’s likely it applies.

This year marks 75 years since the ICA’s inception, established by a disparate collective of artists in 1947. From then until today, it has continued to platform, produce, present, and commission vital new work in visual arts, film, music, performance, and digital art, working with many figures seminal to each practice. Now, to showcase its inspiring anniversary programme – and signal a new era for the institution – we’re working with them on a year-long partnership that will celebrate and put word of the series out across the city.

The ICA’s position at the centre of London’s contemporary culture has been enduring. Its reflection on that time will rightfully be ‘forward-thinking and future-focused’, marking its first programme under the leadership of new Director Bengi Ünsal. Truly multi-disciplinary, it’ll include a takeover by queer techno night club platform INFERNO, R.I.P. Germain’s first solo exhibition at a UK institution, visiting film festivals and newly curated series, long-term education partnerships with Dazed Club and the London College of Fashion, and a music series featuring gigs by Black Country New Road and Deathcrash – and that’s only a fraction of what’s planned.

Alongside the dynamic event series, a major fundraising auction in partnership with Sotheby’s, a new digital journal, a new podcast series, and a rebalancing of its programme to cover performance, music, and night-time programming as well as its thriving visual arts, film, and education programmes, our partnership will give the ICA’s new concepts a platform on the streets of London.

11.10.22

Words by BUILDHOLLYWOOD

Leading off with The ICA Is, a testimonial campaign that brings together legendary and rising artists, audiences, and staff members who’ve provided their own words on what the Institute means to them, it’s a perfect starting point to revisit iconic moments in its history, while keeping art and artists at centre stage.

The ICA Is sees the Institute described as ‘a facilitator’, ‘the most exciting place a younger me ever showed at’, ‘a beautifully and culturally permeating legacy’, ‘holding and protecting the course for the brightest horizon’, ‘the start of my beginning’, ‘championing the new, the inventive and the daring’, ‘incredibly compelling art’, and crucially, ‘needed now more than ever’, by ALEWYA, Marlene Dumas, Lewis G. Burton, Tilda Swinton, Steve McQueen, Anish Kapoor, Jarvis Cocker and Wolfgang Tillmans respectively. It provides a striking portrait of the organisation’s reach, reputation, and legacy. Shared on our street posters with a brand-new ICA logo and typeface, the Institute’s vibrance and range is palpable – showing no signs of faltering.

Of the landmark celebration, ICA Director Ünsal said, ‘The ICA has always been progressive, an alternative and a safe place for all those who are looking beyond the mainstream, taking risks and defying definitions. Safeguarding the space for them and the next generations is our most important responsibility.’ And as the institution itself acknowledges – ‘What’s also important is that this is just the start.’ We can’t wait to see what the future holds as the Institute continues to push London’s culture forwards.

Find out more about The Institute of Contemporary Art’s 75^th anniversary celebrations here.

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