Institute of Contemporary Interdisciplinary Arts
ICIA is an academic research centre commissioning new arts projects regionally and nationally, as well as offering training opportunities for artists, arts professionals, academics and educators. We programme a mix of performances, exhibitions, talks, workshops and classes open to the general public alongside our student community, and are based on campus at the University of Bath. Events take place in the Arts Theatre, the three exhibition spaces (Art Space 1, 2 & 3), in the art and rehearsal studios and at venues off campus.
2012 Theme: Internationalism
- The ideal or practice of cooperation and understanding between nations.
- The state or quality of being international.
The city of Bath and its University are an ideal context in which to explore the idea of Internationalism. The City of Bath is a World Heritage City. Take a walk through the centre at any time of the year and you will overhear many different languages from around the world.
27% of all students at the University of Bath are International students (defined as those with non-British domicile). The top ten countries from which our students come (excluding UK) are China (Mainland & Hong Kong), Germany, France, Cyprus, Greece, India, Canada, Spain, Italy and Malaysia.
The expression or portrayal of national identity through sport is a familiar part of public life and popular culture. Historically the arts have also often been associated with national identity. For example the music of the composer Elgar with ideas of Englishness, while the paintings of David resonated with Napoleonic Empire and in the late 20th Century the painter Gerhard Richter explored German identity.
This season will provide an opportunity to examine the relationship between national identity, nationalism and internationalism in the cultures of sport and the arts, asking where contradictions or conflicts arise.
There are many different ‘internationalisms’, used in different contexts from the arts and sports to economic, social and political perspectives.
This theme will also give space to examine the contemporary status of collective values and ideologies that cross international borders. While networks of communication and information sharing are easier to use and access than ever, individualist fragmentation of society is currently perceived to be rife in the West.
In arts practice, a hierarchy of importance is often projected onto artists or their work according to local, national or international status. The same can be said of academic research. In sport, international games provide high profile meetings of the top athletes. In the arts, international festivals and Biennales showcase those artists and performers considered to be leaders in their fields.
Body and Gesture (Sub-Theme)
Throughout history artists have represented and reflected upon the human body. Depictions of the body give insights into the attitudes and social values of the time.
In both arts and sport there is a play between physical gestures or movements and the residual trace they leave. Consider a mark on a canvas, a musical note on a page or the documentation of a temporary artwork. Sporting events are a transient spectacle in which images of body movements are both transmitted and documented.
A great deal of artistic performance is inherently gestural. Physical and mental processes of rehearsal in the arts have clear resonances with the nature of sports performance.
Being part of a large audience sharing a collective experience can have a physical, visceral quality.
Observer/Observed (Sub-Theme)
This theme will provide an opportunity to examine issues around ‘looking on’ or observing. The terms ‘audience’, ‘spectator’, ‘viewer’ or ‘fan’ all have different nuances. The relationship between observer and observed is a preoccupation of our very visual Western public culture; from the cult of celebrity to sporting events and the arts.
Specific sports and art-forms have their own particular rituals and conventions between audience and athletes/performers/artists/artworks.
Technology has dramatically changed the relationship between the viewer and the original sporting event, artistic performance or artwork. To view or listen to a recording of an event, as opposed to being there ‘on the spot’ changes the event’s status. The same applies to the status of original art objects that at one time could only be encountered in one place; photography reproduced multiple representations of that object to be encountered in many different contexts.
Visit our archive to find out more about our previous work.
You can download our current brochure as a PDF for offline viewing.
See two short films about ICIA's work with artists and students:
Turn up the sound and watch the embedded films below or the HD versions on vimeo:
- ICIA: working with artists (HD)
- ICIA: working with students (HD)
If the video is jumpy or you have a slow connection you can watch low resolution versions:
- ICIA: working with artists (low resolution)
- ICIA: working with students (low resolution)
ICIA: working with students from ICIA, University of Bath on Vimeo.
ICIA: working with artists from ICIA, University of Bath on Vimeo.
Note: to watch in high definition glory click the HD and full screen buttons: 
Find out more about who is talking in the working with artists film [PDF]