ICA - What's on, The Mall, London Middlesex England
ICA - What's on,
Published: 11th July 2010
Frownland
£9 / £8 Concessions / £7 ICA Members
First-time director Ronald Bronstein describes his debut feature as “a brown tomato lobbed with spazmo aim at the spotless surface of the silver screen.” Be forewarned: audience response has been intensely divided. Frownland has garnered passionate raves and scathing denunciation, while festival screenings have ended in screaming matches between patrons. Frownland is strong stuff, yes, but none of its notorious reputation does justice to its savage dark humor, emotional heft and stylistic audacity.
Above all else, Frownland is a pitch-black character study of Keith Sontag (Dore Mann), a neurotic, manipulative, stridently unlovable New Yorker whose pitiless roommate aptly describes him, to his face, as “a burbling troll in his underwear.” With the most basic elements of human communication a struggle, Keith lurches his way through an uncaring city, attempting to aid a suicidal friend, evict his unctuous roommate, and simply attain some measure of self-respect.
Artists’ Film Club: Judith Hopf
Free
July’s Artists' Film Club is focussed on the work of German artist Judith Hopf. Hopf has a diverse practice that includes the production of objects and installations, alongside graphic works, performances and film works. Her topics range from love to politics and are often developed in cooperation with other artists or friends.
With this emphasis placed on collaboration and friendship, her films are characterised by a playfulness that veers between the acting out of everyday social roles and the choreography of fantastical impulses; scenes of bureaucratic tedium dissolving into surreal group dance. For this event Judith Hopf will screen a number of recent films and discuss her practice.
Oscar Tuazon: My Mistake
Free
The ICA presents a solo exhibition by the American artist, writer and curator Oscar Tuazon. The artist creates sculptures and installations that are characterised by a sense of tension. Comprised of both natural and industrial materials, Tuazon’s structures reference minimalist sensibilities, DIY aesthetics and the formal language of architecture. At the ICA, Tuazon will be making a radical, site-specific intervention in the exhibition spaces. Pushing the physical boundaries of the gallery, the structure will incorporate, penetrate and infiltrate the ICA’s lower gallery and concourse.
Tuazon was born in 1975 in Seattle, Washington, USA. He grew up in the suburb of Tacoma, before leaving to study art at Cooper Union, New York. He subsequently attended the Whitney Independent Study Program, and worked under Vito Acconci at Acconci Studio. In 2007, he moved to Paris and co-founded the artist run collective and gallery, castillo/corrales. Tuazon has had numerous solo shows including at Kunsthalle Bern (2010), Parc Saint Léger - Centre d’art contemporain (2010), Centre international d'art et du paysage de l'île de Vassivière (2009), Künstlerhaus Stuttgart (2009), David Roberts Foundation, London (2009) and Palais de Tokyo, Paris (2007).
LIFT Club
Free, unless specified
The heartbeat of the festival, LIFT Club is the social hub for artists and audiences of LIFT (London International Festival of Theatre) presenting a creative cocktail of talks, events, cabaret and club nights at the ICA.
Join us for our debates programme every Thursday afternoon at 3.30pm. We’ll be inviting speakers to discuss epic and intimate performance, local activism and anti-globalisation, theatre from the Arab world and the effect of social media on theatre.
Our post-performance cabaret and club nights take place on Fridays and Saturday nights in the ICA bar, with brilliant acts such as Bourgeois & Maurice ensuring the relaxed atmosphere takes a more ribald turn after dark.
At a Glance:
The LIFT Debates
- Thursday 24 June, 3.30-5.30pm: The Digital Democracy
An investigation into what theatre producers can learn from social media and user-generated content. Chaired by Mark Ball (LIFT). - Thursday 1 July, 3.30-5.30pm: The Epic and the Intimate
An analysis of the collective power of theatre in an era in which so much culture is absorbed alone by individuals. Chaired by Lyn Gardner (The Guardian). - Thursday 8 July, 3.30-5.30pm: The Climate for Theatre
What theatre-makers can learn from the models of local activism practiced by the anti-globalisation movement. In association with Artsadmin, chaired by Chris Smith (ex DCMS; Environment Agency). - Thursday 15 July, 3.30-5.30pm: Theatre from the Arab World
The role theatre can play in building bridges and generating greater understanding between different cultures. Chaired by Deborah Shaw (RSC).
Special Events
- Friday 2 July, 2.00pm: Theatre For Young Audiences: An International Perspective, presented by LIFT, TYA-UK and Takeoff .
- Saturday 10 July, 2.00-5.00pm: An Open Space Event, hosted by Mark Ball and facilitated by Phelim McDermott .
Cabaret and Club Nights
- Friday 25 June, 9.00pm-1.00am: LIFT 2010 Opening Party featuring David Mills with DJs The Readers Wifes
- Saturday 26 June, 10.30pm-1.00am: Dusty Limits and Fancy Chance with DJ Mmmelanie
- Friday 2 July, 10.00pm-1.00am: Greg McLaren’s Doris Day Can Fuck Off + DJ Christopher Camplin
- Saturday 3 July, 10.30pm-1.00am: The Mexican Spitfire Blanche Dubois
- Friday 9 July, 10.30pm-1.00am: Rod Lightning & Trixie Malicious are… Chakralax with Carpet Burn DJs
- Saturday 10 July, 8.00pm-1.00am: Hide&Seek Weekender Party * presents Lost & Found and Stoke Newington International Airport in association with LIFT Club
- Friday 16 July, 11.15pm-01.00am: DJ Dogruff and Dickie Beaux
- Saturday 17 July, 11.30pm-01.00am: Bourgeois & Maurice with DJ Hobot
The Ballroom
£9 / £8 Concessions / £7 ICA Members.
"The week's hidden gem is at the ICA, a lovely Brazilian film ... The music is superb and the camerawork by Walter Carvalho thrilling." Guardian
This charming film tells the stories of various ballroom dancers and a sole night at the ballroom. Filled with song and dance, the events make spectators feel as if they were a part of the pulsating life inside the ballroom.
Circular, as is the ballroom, the story revolves around Marici (Cássia Kiss), and Eudes (Stepan Nercessian), who go to the dance together. Marici makes friends with Bel (Maria Flor), a young “outsider” in the ballroom, who dates the young man responsible for the sound system, Marquinhos (Paulo Vilhena). Eudes takes Bel out to dance, provoking an array of diverse reactions. In the meantime, Alice (Tônia Carrero) and Álvaro (Leonardo Villar) suffer the limitations of age, but unwilling to abandon the dances. And Elza (Betty Faria), excited, arrives full of expectations bringing a newcomer in hand - Nice (Mirian Mehler).
Their stories mix in with that of others, not less vibrant. The libido of one couple of tango dancers almost overflows from the screen; two women (the wife and her husband’s lover) vie for the same dancer; a fat man dances alone; the waiter ties the plot together, as if using needle and thread.
Campo and Cork Midsummer Festival presents: FML
£15 / £12 ICA Members and Concessions + £1.20 booking fee per ticket in advance
Misunderstood, hormonal, angry about everything...the world of a teenager is a mystery to anyone who's not one. But whilst the majority of our teens manage to come through ok, many are driven to extremes of sadness, violence, even suicide. Can anything be done to spot early warning signs and help those in trouble before it's too late? And why aren't our teenagers happier when western economic optimism has created a seemingly bottomless market of happiness: sports happiness, money happiness, McDonald's happiness, beauty happiness, love happiness, social happiness, fame happiness? Just where does it all go wrong?
Fusing video with live performance, 20 young people bring a poignant mix of true confessions, lies, quotes and teenage tales to the stage. Audiences are invited to listen and speculate as to who may fall by the wayside, who needs help and how you might tell.
Comissioned by Cork Midsummer Festival, LIFT and acclaimed Belgian theatre company, Campo, and presented at the ICA for its UK Premiere, FML explores the tragedy of teenage suicide and asks just why it is that those on the brink of life choose to end it.
Boris Groys: A Post-Communist Manifesto
£12 / £11 Concessions / £10 ICA Members
With the collapse of neoliberalism, the idea of communism has made a surprise return to the table. Thinkers such as Slavoj Žižek, Toni Negri and Alain Badiou, have argued that communism, a society based on equality, is now proved to be the only alternative to the chaos of capitalism. Building on this discussion, the renowned art critic and thinker Boris Groys argues that the strength of the communist vision comes from the fact that it represents the subordination of the economy to politics.
Groys suggests that where the economy is determined by money, politics is determined by language. Money is, as we know from the fiasco with the banks, an undemocratic medium, whereas language is potentially the most democratic means to running society. Returning to an ancient tradition, first heralded by Plato, Groys argues that society should be ruled by language and philosophy.
Confronting the philosophy of communism under the Soviet Union, Groys argues that the experiment failed after the economy was again allowed to dominate society under the Soviet leaders. Now, with the end of these perverted communist experiments, the project of rule by language and philosophy is again given an opportunity.
Boris Groys is a philosopher, essayist, art critic, media theorist, and an internationally acclaimed expert on late-Soviet postmodern art and literature, as well as on the Russian avant-garde. Dr. Groys’s writing engages the wildly disparate traditions of French poststructuralism and modern Russian philosophy.
Professor of Aesthetics, Art History, and Media Theory at the Center for Art and Media Technology in Karlsruhe, and since 2005, the Distinguished Professor in the Faculty of Arts and Science, NYU; Groys has published numerous books, including The Total Art of Stalinism, Ilya Kabakov: The Man Who Flew into Space from His Apartment, Art Power and, most recently, The Communist Postscript
Source: www.ica.org.uk
www.ica.org.uk
www.ica.org.uk
