ICA Takes A journey Through London’s Subculture 1980 To Present

ICA London

The ICA has announced a major new off-site project at the Old Selfridges Hotel in London as part of a series of events this summer, which started with Glastonbury Festival. A journey through London’s subculture: 1980s to Now illustrates a perceived thread of creativity between the post-punk era and the present day – a legacy that underpins London’s incredible creative potential in the present.
 
The project will occupy the vast first floor of the Old Selfridges Hotel, a cavernous industrial raw space, situated on Orchard Street directly above the department store and entered near the Selfridges Food Hall. The project will bring together up to 60 influential artists and art movements from London past and present, including Bodymap, Matthew Darbyshire, Giles Deacon, Louise Gray, Zaha Hadid, Jeffrey Hinton, Sarah Lucas, Lucky PDF, Nicola Tyson, Julie Verhoeven, Studio Voltaire, Jonny Woo and Bethan Laura Wood.
 
A journey through London’s subculture: 1980s to Now takes a closer look at the link between artistic and creative endeavour in London from the early 1980s through to the emerging talent of 2013, proposing a single thread of creativity that can be traced back over the past twenty years. The ICA holds an integral place in this history, playing a unique role in the presentation of radical work by both established and emerging talent, many of whom are included in this project, to a wider audience at critical points in their careers.
 
Gregor Muir, Executive Director, ICA, said: “The different strands of London’s subculture explored within this show are instinctively natural territory for the ICA. As champions of radical art and culture, we feel a great affinity with the many inspiring artists, architects, designers, chefs and musicians involved in this project. We are also delighted to be working with Selfridges, another great London institution.”
 
The project is formed around 50 custom-made vitrines, each curated by artists or proponents of a particular creative scene, showcasing material ranging from flyers, books, photographs, drawings and other paraphernalia that capture a specific moment in time. This eclectic and personal approach will take visitors on a journey through creative culture in London, from post-punk to the present-day. It also fittingly ties in with Selfridges’ own ‘Bright Young Things’ project, which champions carefully shortlisted new talent and offers them the unique opportunity to become one of the store’s star brands for one season, with all the necessary support and headline exposure that comes with such a position. Part of the project will include installations of work by SIBLING, Lucky PDF, Matthew Darbyshire and Haroon Mirza. In addition the re will be films screened on monitors throughout the space by artists including LondonAtella, Bodymap, Jonny Woo and John Maybury.
 
To accompany the project a full programme of events will run throughout the duration of the project including a series of related talks. A journey through London’s subculture: 1980s to Now is curated by Gregor Muir (ICA Executive Director Gregor Muir) in collaboration with exhibition advisors Emily King (Curator and writer), Libby Sellers (Design Gallerist) and Princess Julia (Writer and DJ).
 
ICA Off-Site Summer Programme
 
A journey through London’s subculture: 1980s to Now is part of a series of off-site events that the ICA will stage across the UK this summer, which started with the presentation of Icy Gays, in association with ‘Vogue Fabrics’, at Glastonbury Festival. Upcoming events include the ICA and Bowiefest at Latitude Festival (18 July 2013) which will celebrate David Bowie in 1973, one of the most artistically important years in his career; closer to home is Outdoor Cinema (20 – 22 August 2013), a three-night outdoor season of contemporary Arab cinema screened on the Duke of York Steps, adjacent to the ICA; and rounding off the season is the ICA’s collaboration with Art on the Underground for Canary Wharf Screen (September – December 2013).
 
Photo: styled by Tabitha Simmons, and shot by Craig McDean for V Magazine 27

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