The Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA) in London has long been a hub for boundary-pushing music and art. Our collaboration began in 2023 with a two-day program featuring a mix of late-night DJ sets, live performances, screenings, and audiovisual projects, setting the stage for our return in 2024 and 2025. Across both years we brought together a wide range of artists, bridging experimental sound, club culture, and multimedia exploration.
The 2023 edition featured a mix of performances, screenings, and audiovisual projects that pushed artistic and political boundaries. Standard Deviation x Remote Control and Mariana Berezovska presented deeply immersive screenings, while live audiovisual collaborations from Katarina Gryvul & Alex Guevara and Diana Azzuz & Nazanin Noori explored sonic landscapes tied to war, resistance, and identity. The stage hosted Stefanie Egedy’s bass-heavy explorations, the genre-defying Pollution Opera by Nadah El Shazly & Elvin Brandhi featuring Omar El Sadek, and Sote. Born In Flamez and Sarah Farina brought their distinct approaches to club music, while the night culminated in the strange and noisy sonics of Prison Religion, PLUS44KALIGULA, Gabber Modus Operandi, and a bumpin' DJ set from Opium Hum. An after-party at MOT continued the energy with sets from Aquarian, Evita Manji, Manuka Honey, and Born In Flamez.
The 2024 program offered an even wider range of artistic perspectives. Seth Graham and More Eaze delivered deeply personal, intimate compositions. Rabih Beaini and Julian Sartorius combined percussive dexterity and sonic layering to create mesmerizing, shape-shifting improvisations. LAMB [K305] commanded the stage with visceral vocal performances, and guitarist and Sunn O))) founder Stephen O’Malley brought a wall of sound that closed the night in a storm of droning intensity. The second evening showcased Kuntari’s primal fusion of metal and Indonesian rhythms, the hypnotic rhythmic interplay of Nídia and Valentina Magaletti, Loraine James’s singular blend of jazz, electronica, and UK club sounds, and O Ghettão’s polyrhythmic powerhouse of afro-deep-house, kuduro, and genre-melting club.
In 2025 the partnership continued for a third consecutive year, presenting a three-night series exploring the outer limits of sound, performance, and audiovisual art the best way we know how: mind-warping concerts. The first night kicked off with KAVARI's brutal blend of industrial clubstep, followed by Emptyset presenting »Dissever,« a heavy A/V combo of cosmic rock, minimalism, and raw improvisation. Lyra Pramuk opened the second night with »Hymnal,« a new 14-track work shaped by folk traditions, poetry, and ecological themes, and Catalan duo Tarta Relena's unique fusion of Mediterranean vocal traditions and modern electronics wove together mystery, ancestry, and clarity. The final night brought light-drenched viscerality by aya and MFO before Violent Magic Orchestra detonated minds and bodies with the relentless collision of black metal and techno that is »DEATH RAVE.«
CTM x ICA is supported by the Goethe-Institut London and Pro Helvetia.