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.
2013
In 2013 our programme and collaborations with artists will reach beyond the traditional ICIA spaces even more as we aim to engage with a broader audience, leading up to the new Centre for the Arts. With (this) in mind the annual theme will cover 18 month. Influenced by ICIA’s move to the new Centre for the Arts in 2014, the theme represents not only some of the social and/or political contexts in which artists are working with and in, but also reflects the beginning of a shift towards ICIA’s new home.
THEME: Travels; explorers, travellers and tourists
Travels rather than travel, offers multiple interpretations as well as a multi layered response to the theme. Whether on a global level, a virtual level or an experiential level, the ability to traverse different modes of movement and interaction has never been more apparent. The cultural, social, political and economic impact of these dynamics are constantly shifting, arguably forward, but there is more: Are cracks beginning to form? Counteracting forces are at play; notions of displacement, boundaries and inequality arise. Hence, we begin to perceive a richer, broader sense of the theme.
Artists in the ICIA programme explore the theme in many ways including Simon Faithful, who through drawing, installation and video attempts to understand and explore the planet as a sculptural object. Matthew Houlding's sculptures and collages draw us into a fantastic, retro-futuristic world, inspired by architectural forms and models, modernism and a childhood spent in East Africa. Kilter Theatre’s The Last Post, questions the art of letter-writing as it fades into history and rural Post Offices close down one by one. Set inside Mobile Sorting Office 451, a bright red Luton van is crammed with retro-chic from a much-travelled life shows a glimmer of a nostalgic world on the brink of extinction. Our concerts are mere points on a map in the travels of our musicians: Balanescu Quartet arrive on the heels of performances in Rennes, Strasbourg and Le Cruesot France, London, Rome and Stockholm Sweden. Hannah Martin, pops in after performances in in Holland, Scotland, Wales and across England, and Sheelanagig fire it up for their new tour from Penzance to Newcastle, and points between. Then, they're on their way.
[Travels verb \ˈtravel\
to go, move, or journey through or across; to go, move, or cover a specified or unspecified distance; to go from place to place; to withstand a journey; (of light, sound, etc) to be transmitted or move: the sound travelled for miles; to progress or advance; (of part of a mechanism) to move in a fixed predetermined path; informal to move rapidly.]
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]