Institute of Contemporary Arts

The ICA does The Big Chill

Lee Perry does action painting. Photo by Volker Schaner Copyright Fufoo Film GmbH 2008

The ICA is zipping up its waterproofs (boots and tents) and heading towards pastures green and pleasant for a Sunday session of fine films and thrilling arty cultural mix transported from its stately mall-side residence. Representing both ICA recent and future adventures and with a sense of unadulterated joy firmly at the fore, the Media Mix Tent may never have seen so much fun.

The programme commences on Sunday afternoon with back-to-back screenings of films to make your heart sing. Meditations on migration, music, homelands and building dreams from rubbish are revealed in superb ICA Films: I for India, Garbage Warrior and Gypsy Caravan.

Visit the Big Chill website for full festival and ticket info, and in the meantime get warmed up with an exclusive clip of Doug Fishbone performing live at the ICA last year.

Lee Perry does Dub-Action Painting

Sir 'Scratch' and On- U Sound's Adrian Sherwood headline the ICA Sunday Selection with a heady mixture of bass and paint exclusive to The Big Chill. Watch and wonder as master mixologist Sherwood delivers his dub soundtrack while LSP improvs with a menagerie of colours, committing to canvas live in front of your eyes. It's hard to believe that something so simple feels so right, but what could be more righteous and blessed than these men providing audio visual entertainment as only they know how? We're in the Media Mix tent after all. Literal visual interpretation as it happens folks.

Lustfaust do Dada

Big Chillers are cordially invited to bear witness as Lustfaust regroup especially for the fest and confirm their place within the pantheon of music legend. This first Lustfaust UK appearance since their infamous 1980 Reading Festival show, will be further evidence as to why Lustfaust are worthy of their near-seminal Dadaist status and audio-cassette activism. The band will be playing with acquaintances from the UK experimental music scene, including Vibracathedral Orchestra, Astral Social Club, Ashtray Navigations, Lanterns, The Good Anna, The ŒA Band, The Exploits of Elaine and Uniform. Their performance will combine the chaos and mystery of the Sun Ra Arkestra with the freewheeling spontaneity expected at a Lustfaust gig.

Visit the Lustfaust website to listen to tracks and enter a competition to win tickets to the Big Chill.

Jeffrey Lewis does slides and singing

Alt-folk originator, comic-book hero and pop-culture poet Mr Lewis will give us a slideshow of his penmanship with inimitable musical accompaniment. Words slung fast and lovingly over sweet lullaby melodies have been Jeff's stock and trade for years, bringing him a hugely dedicated fanbase. His own fandom has led him to recently record an LP of Crass covers (not to mention his minor classic track, Williamsburg Will Oldham Horror), meanwhile he adds more and more to his expansive comic book portfolio. He was at the ICA last November and jumped at the chance to join us in the Malverns for The Big Chill.

Doug Fishbone does mysterious things

Doug will take part at the Big Chill in as-yet-unclassified activity, perhaps one of his superb neo-satirical slideshows as seen recently at The Hayward, the ICA and elsewhere. Doug is an US artist living in London and was voted one of the 'future greats' of the art world in Art Review last year. He is perhaps best known for putting 30,000 bananas on Trafalgar Square in 2004, for the public to take and eat, a wonderful feat similar (but about 50 per cent bigger) to his 2002 New York exhibition, 20,000 Bananas. Doug's work gets us thinking about the more unseemly aspects of modern life, always with a smile on our face.

Aileen Campbell does vocal acrobatics

Part of the ICA's landmark Nought to Sixty exhibition, Campbell entranced gallery goers by bringing together a temporary group of non-singers and prompting them to sweet choruses via instructional video. The operatic Aileen Campbell is emerging as a unique talent in the contemporary art world. At the Big Chill, Campbell is  experimenting with duets – she’s going to  play and sing with a popcorn machine, and duet with pre-recorded DVDs.

Watch In the manner of songs and drones, a video of a performance directed by Aileen Campbell at the ICA.

More about Aileen Campbell.

ICA's Film programme

I for India

This family archive of Super-8 footage is a time capsule of alienation, discovery, racism and belonging. (More about I for India)

Garbage Warrior

An extraordinary, intimate portrait of a man possessed by his dream of changing the world, one old beer can at a time. (More about Garbage Warrior)

Gypsy Caravan: When the Road Bends...

A dazzling documentary celebrating the musical world of the Roma, with contributions from doc icon Albert Maysles. (More about Gypsy Caravan)