Richard Hamilton at the ICA
12 February–6 April 2014
Institute of Contemporary Arts
The Mall
London SW1Y 5AH
T +44 (0)20 7930 3647
www.ica.org.uk
Twitter / Facebook
Richard Hamilton (1922–2011) is widely regarded as one of the most important and innovative British artists of the twentieth century. During the 1950s, the ICA stood apart from a more conventional London art scene, offering Hamilton the opportunity to curate pioneering exhibitions and participate in experimental events organised by the Independent Group, of which he was a key member. Richard Hamilton at the ICA presents two of his seminal installations, Man, Machine and Motion (1955) and an Exhibit (1957), alongside related rare archive material, to coincide with the Tate Modern’s retrospective on the artist. Almost six decades after Hamilton presented these works at the ICA’s original location at 17-18 Dover Street, they will be re-staged to reflect the artist’s close involvement with the ICA throughout his career.
Hamilton’s relationship with the ICA was first established when he installed James Joyce: His Life and Work (1950) with Nigel Henderson, and later curated Growth and Form (1951) and The Wonder and Horror of the Human Head (1953) at Dover Street. As a key member of the Independent Group, Hamilton took part in numerous public discussions and the networks afforded to him by the ICA greatly influenced his practice.
Man, Machine and Motion consisted of thirty steel open frames onto which photographic images were clipped. The frames were double sided and housed over 200 separate images, which related to four themes: Aquatic, Terrestrial, Aerial and Interplanatery. Hamilton designed the exhibition to be flexible, so that the frames could be moved and placed in different configurations. He developed this exhibition more fully with his next curated show, an Exhibit, working in close collaboration with the artist Victor Pasmore and writer-critic Lawrence Alloway. Organised around a modular hanging system, the intention was to give visitors an opportunity ‘to generate their own compositions.’ Both exhibitions were shown first at the Hatton Gallery, Newcastle before being presented at the ICA.
Richard Hamilton was born in London in 1922. He studied at the Royal Academy Schools and Slade School of Art, and went on to teach at the London Central School of Arts and Crafts and the University of Newcastle upon Tyne. Hamilton was a key member of the Independent Group that met at the ICA in the 1950s. He represented Britain in the 1993 Venice Biennale and his work is held in major public and private collections around the world.
Also on view:
ICA Off-Site: Dover Street Market
10 February–6 April 2014
Hito Steyerl
5 March–27 April 2014
ICA Theatre
Jane Drew (1911–1996): An Introduction
12 February–22 March 2014
Fox Reading Room
Paperwork: A Brief History of Artists’ Scrapbooks
1 April–11 May 2014
Fox Reading Room
Associate Artist 2014: NTS
Parallel Visions
From 18 February
ICA Publication
Institute of Contemporary Arts: 1946–1968
ICA Executive Director Gregor Muir and art historian Anne Massey have produced the first book devoted to the early years of the ICA. The book is available to purchase at Dover Street Market, ICA Bookshop and on the ICA website.
Associated talks and events:
“an Exhibit: an Exhibition, an Artwork, a Collaboration”
Saturday 22 February, 2–5:30pm
“Digital Talk: The Impact of Technology”
Tuesday 25 February, 4pm
Culture Now: Thomas Bayrle – 7 March
Gallery Tours:
Lucy Rose Bayley – 13 March
Robin Kinross – 20 March
James Capper – 3 April
Artists’ Film Club: 21st Century Pop – 6 March
Friday Salons:
Curating the Archive – 7 March
Colour Clash – 4 April
ICA Student Forum:
Man, Machine & Motion – 25 March
Consumerist Paradise: Glamorous and Big Business – 1 April
In parallel
An Introduction to Radical Thinkers
21 January–18 March 2014
Culture Now:
Trevor Jackson and Emma Warren – 7 February
Simon Denny and Aleksandra Domanovic – 21 March
Artists’ Film Club:
Ulrike Ottinger – 19 February
Valie Export – 15–16 March
Steven Claydon – 23 April
Friday Salon:
Colonial Modernity (and its Crises) – 14 March
Academic Symposia:
Dwoskin Day – 8 March
Just what is it that makes today’s art schools so different, so appealing? – 29 March
ICA artists’ editions
The ICA is producing new artists’ editions to accompany Richard Hamilton at the ICA by Cory Arcangel, Pawel Althamer, Roger Hiorns and Christian Marclay.
Visit our artists’ editions at www.ica.org.uk/shop/editions
For information contact: vicky.steer [at] ica.org.uk / T +44 (0)20 7766 1425
Press information: Naomi Crowther, Press Officer ICA
naomi.crowther [at] ica.org.uk / T +44 (0)20 7766 1407
