Bengi Ünsal - ICA London

Talk Art

Russell Tovey and Robert Diament c/o Independent Talent

Sculpture, Unknown, Russell Tovey, Painting, Drawing, Art, Artist Interview, Arts, Studio Visit, Visual Arts, Art Talk, Contemporary Art, Entertainment, Celebrity, Modern Art, Artwork, Talk Art, Robert Diament

4.6 • 1.1K Ratings

🗓️ 28 September 2023

⏱️ 52 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

We meet Bengi Ünsal, Director of ICA London which is celebrating its landmark 75th year. She is the second woman to serve as the director of the Institute of Contemporary Arts and has been successfully refocusing their commitment to live music, live performances alongside extensive visual arts, film and education programmes.

Before the ICA, bengi was the head of contemporary music at the Southbank Centre, the UK’s largest arts centre and one of the most-visited attractions in the country. During her tenure, she was responsible for a year-round programme of more than 200 gigs and contemporary music performances across its venues. She oversaw the award-winning artist-curated Meltdown festival, alongside guest curators M.I.A in 2017, Robert Smith (2018), Nile Rodgers (2019) and Grace Jones, who brought together artists including Peaches and Skunk Anansie for the 27th edition earlier this year. Under her leadership, the Southbank Centre launched its first regular club night, Concrete Lates, in 2018, and futuretense, a weekly free slot for international emerging music talent, delivered in partnership with BBC Music Introducing.

As multifaceted as her work, Ünsal is a DJ, has run her own events company, launched a festival, and has worked for radio and music TV channels, Universal Music and BMG.

The Institute of Contemporary Arts is much more than a museum. Since its inception in 1947 as the first truly multi-disciplinary arts organisation, the ICA has always been a progressive, alternative, and a safe place for artists who are looking beyond the mainstream: the ones who are willing to go beyond the status quo, and those who take risks and defy definitions. Today, the ICA remains at the heart of contemporary culture in London, commissioning, producing, and presenting urgent new work in film, music, performance, digital art, and the visual arts, by the most vital and provocative artists of our time.

Follow @ICAlondon and @BengiUnsal

Visit @CounterEditions for 8 new fundraising prints to celebrate 75 Years of the ICA. Find prints here: https://www.countereditions.com

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Transcript

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0:58.0	We Transfer and TalkArt.
1:04.0	Good afternoon, good morning, everything, wherever you are in the world, I'm Russell Toby.
1:08.0	And I'm Robert Dyer-men.
1:09.0	And this is TalkArt.
1:10.0	Welcome to TalkArt.
1:11.0	How are you today, Rob?
1:13.0	Today, Russell, I am feeling multi-disciplinary.
1:17.0	That's nice.
1:18.0	And it's something I've maybe felt before because it's something I really believe in my heart of hearts is one of the most important things,
1:24.0	not only within society but also within the art world, the idea of bringing different people from different backgrounds together,
1:31.0	but also different media, different art forms, even different spaces, collaboration togetherness,
1:38.0	and including music with art, cinema with art, you know, like all of these crossovers that actually grow into something much bigger.
1:47.0	And I know in our recent episode with Julian Schnabel, he actually sort of thought I was a bit crazy when I was talking about his collaboration with like Red Hot Chili Peppers when he did the artwork,
1:56.0	but I really do.
	...

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