Institute of Contemporary Arts

Nash House, The Mall's laboratory

Nash House, John Nash's neoclassical block on The Mall, ceased to be just another palace on Carlton House Terrace when the Institute of Contemporary Arts moved in in 1968. The ICA was born in 1946 at the hands of Roland Penrose, Herbert Read, Peter Watson, and a circle of artists who did not want a New York-style modern art museum, but a workshop for debate. After the first exhibitions on Oxford Street and the Dover Street period, the move to this venue—between the Admiralty Arch and the Duke of York Steps—brought together galleries, a flexible Theatre, two cinemas, a bookstore, and a bar under the same roof.

When punk and industrial occupied the Theatre

In the fifties, the ICA was home to the Independent Group and a British Pop that did not yet have a name, with Richard Hamilton and Eduardo Paolozzi among those who conceived the exhibition as a clash between art, technology, and mass culture. At Nash House, the commitment became louder. In 1976, The Clash played in the Theatre and COUM Transmissions presented Prostitution, the scandal that precipitated Throbbing Gristle. Einstürzende Neubauten, Laurie Anderson, electro sessions in the eighties, and later, Beastie Boys or The Stone Roses confirmed that the building was not a gallery with a borrowed stage: it was a venue where avant-garde music occupied the same floor as the exhibition.

Dance floor, queer rave, and 360 audio

Today the Theatre functions as a concert hall and club. The monthly series minus one hands the nights over to DJs, labels, and dance floor communities, with a hybrid format between dancing and listening. Since 2020, INFERNO—a queer and trans techno platform founded by Lewis G. Burton—takes over the Theatre, bar, and cinema until the early hours. The dialogue with CTM in Berlin and Unsound reinforces that experimental line, from broken electronics to noise and club. In 2023, the ICA installed the house's d&b audiotechnik Soundscape system: the In the Round series places the audience around the stage with 360° spatial audio.

An arts center that stays open late

It is not a daily clubbing venue. It is a contemporary arts center, an organization of the Arts Council England, which maintains clubbing, concerts, and auteur cinema in the same building. The Theatre holds about 350 standing people. There is a bar with skylights, a cafeteria, a bookstore, a cloakroom, a seasonal outdoor garden, and step-free access from The Mall. The usual hours are Tuesday to Sunday, from 12:00 to 23:00, with nights that extend when there is a rave or concert.