Institute of Contemporary Arts
A restless laboratory on The Mall since 1946, the ICA mixes exhibitions, performance, talks and an arthouse cinema to test what ‘contemporary’ can be. Expect risk-taking shows alongside artist Q&As, festivals and cult film seasons. If you like your culture provisional, argumentative and alive, this is home base. Budget 60–90 minutes for galleries plus a screening or event.
Opening Hours
What's not to miss inside?
Galleries Sweep
Compact, idea-dense showsRotating exhibitions swap spectacle for argument—often with strong writing and live events around them.
📍 Lower & upper levels off the foyer
Cinema 1
Indie and international programmingFrom restorations to first-feature debuts, the ICA’s screen makes a case for film as a thinking person’s nightlife.
📍 Off the main foyer
Bar & Bookshop
Where the conversation spills overArtist books and theory texts rub shoulders with zines; the bar doubles as foyer for ideas.
📍 Ground floor
Inspire your Friends
- The ICA incubated the Independent Group (1950s)—the think-tank behind British Pop Art’s ideas about mass media and everyday objects.
- Its 1968 show ‘Cybernetic Serendipity’ was a world first for computer art, introducing plotter drawings, algorithmic music and machine choreography to a general audience.
- The Nash-designed terraces on The Mall house the ICA: neoclassical shells with a history of avant-garde contents.
