ICA 2016 Programme Highlights

70 years on, experimentation and artistic response to contemporary concerns are still at the heart of the ICA.

We are delighted to share our programme for 2016, our 70th anniversary year. This year highlights the power of the arts in experimenting with new ways of responding to and shaping a rapidly changing world. Reflecting the ICA’s original mission to encompass a range of art forms including visual art, performance, music and film, and address the most urgent concerns of today, the 2016 programme looks back to seminal moments in history as well as to the future. We celebrate how practitioners from various disciplines explore the material and conceptual concerns of their day-to-day realities through forms of salvage and reinvention, alongside continuing to highlight the impact of mass digital culture upon contemporary art and culture.

Highlights of the 2016 programme include:

• Major solo exhibitions by leading international contemporary artists working across various disciplines: the first UK solo presentation of Betty Woodman, one of the most important contemporary artists working in ceramics today; sound and video artist James Richards featuring a selection of rhythmic musical and visual cues; sculpture and video artist Guan Xiao, who explores how ways of seeing are impacted by digital image circulation; artist and publisher Martine Syms; and the influential British stylist and accessories designer Judy Blame.
   
• A celebration of the 40th anniversary of punk with a presentation of the album designs of punk band Public Image Ltd (PiL).
   
• An independent cinema programme that includes the third iteration of our Artists’ Film Biennial, a new creative documentary cinema festival, Frames of Representation, and a growing music programme with partners such as NTS Radio, Warp Records, JUST JAM (formerly St John’s Sessions), PAN, Thirty Three Thirty Three and The Wire.
   
• A talks programme that will explore the impact of new technologies on culture and society, as well as questions of gender, urbanism and new materialism.
   
• A programme for the ICA Fox Reading Room that responds to recent significant cultural and social historic events.

Programme Details

We start the year with the first solo UK presentation by Betty Woodman (b.1930) (3 February – 10 April 2016). Woodman, who lives and works in New York and Antella, Italy, is one of the most important artists working with ceramics, painting and sculpture today. Our exhibition will focus on innovative directions in her practice over the last decade, in which she combines ceramics with painting and other media.

In April, we present the first institutional solo projects with Chinese artist Guan Xiao (b.1983) and American artist Martine Syms (b. 1988) (20 April – 19 June). Working mainly in sculpture and video, Guan Xiao explores how ways of seeing are now influenced by digital image circulation as an increasingly dominant source of knowledge and information exchange. For the exhibition, Martine Syms will present new work in a variety of media that reflect upon her ongoing interest in cultural exchange and identity.

During the summer, we present the first solo exhibition of British stylist and accessories designer Judy Blame (b.1960) (29 June – 4 September). This will reveal the distinct make-do-and-mend aesthetic that established him as a key player in the Punk movement and subsequent 1980s club scene and acknowledge him as one of the most influential designers today.

In September, we open a major solo exhibition with artist James Richards (b. 1983) (21 September – 20 November), recognising the significance of his unique approach to sound and video work among a generation of British artists.

In the ICA Fox Reading Room, we continue to highlight important moments in post-war social and cultural history, uncovering unseen material and generating further discussion around lesser-known figures and movements. Art into Society - Society into Art (19 January – 6 March) will document the seminal 1974 ICA exhibition Art into Society - Society into Art: Seven German Artists. Realised by ICA Curator Norman Rosenthal and German art dealer Christos M. Joachimides, the original exhibition sought to engage with discussions of the relationship between art and politics emerging from West Germany at that time.

Further ICA Fox Reading Room displays include Dennis Morris: PiL - First Issue to Metal Box (22 March – 15 May), celebrating the 40^th anniversary of Punk through a focussed look at the original design by Morris for the Public Image Ltd (PiL)’s logo and albums, in particular Metal Box. Detroit: City of Techno (26 July – 25 September) explores the musical and social influences that informed the emergence of Detroit techno music from the mid-1980s onwards.

We will continue to champion exciting voices in independent filmmaking and artist’s moving image. 2016 brings the third iteration of our Artists Film Biennial (26 – 29 May), a four-day celebration of the latest in artist’s film.

Building upon recent innovations in ICA’s music programme and the success of Zhang Ding’s Enter the Dragon, we continue to partner with the most forward-thinking partners in the industry such as NTS Radio, Warp, JUST JAM, PAN, Thirty Three Thirty Three and The Wire to present unique events that highlight the intersection between experimental music, sound and visual culture.

We showcase the latest in performance, working with artists and other practitioners to premiere unique events. We are excited to welcome our second Associate Poet Kayo Chingonyi, who will programme a series of spoken word events in Spring 2016.

In our cinema, we are excited to present the inaugural film festival Frames of Representation in spring. Offering a platform for new forms of documentary cinema to be experienced and discussed, the first edition of Frames of Representation will focus on the idea of the ‘New Periphery’, and cinema’s role in bringing the excluded and elsewhere to the centre of conversation. Later in the year, we welcome back Artists’ Self-Publishing Fair (ASP), giving our audience the opportunity to meet and purchase published works directly from their producers.

Following the success of our talks summit Fear of Missing Out in May 2015, this year's ICA talks programme will focus on questions of urbanism and new materialism, as well as continuing to engage with cutting-edge thinkers and writers that are exploring the impact of technological advances today. Gender issues remain a key focus in our events programme.

Our Learning programme closely engages with young and emerging thinkers and practitioners. STOP PLAY RECORD, ICA’s film programme for young people aged 16-24, boasts a series of screenings, talks, workshops and practical sessions, helping emerging talent access a range of expert-led opportunities to establish and develop their skills. From 18 January to 28 March 2016 young people based in London will be able to apply to make a film in partnership with New Contemporaries, Chisenhale Gallery, DAZED, Kingston University and SPACE, who also provide a programme of activities across the capital. ■