Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA), London, 2009
In 2009 chris+keir were invited by the ICA to curate and deliver a year-long programme of live art workshops for children, developed in direct response to the gallery’s exhibition programme.
Working closely with the ICA curatorial and education teams, and in dialogue with exhibiting artists, we designed a series of experimental, playful and deliberately anarchic workshops that responded to each exhibition as it was installed. The workshops treated children as active collaborators rather than audiences, foregrounding participation, making and collective action.
Projects included a cardboard sound-system clash responding to the Rhythm Section group exhibition; a dissolving, time-based art film developed for Nathaniel Mellors’ Our House; the production of a tabloid-style newspaper titled Already Done It; and the formation of an anarcho-syndicalist children’s co-operative operating temporarily within the ICA galleries.
The programme explored live art, publishing, performance and institutional critique through accessible, hands-on activities. An interview reflecting on our approach was published in the ICA’s Roland magazine, conducted by artist Louis Moreno (Urban Laboratory)
