ICA Experiences Bar/Cafe
IT WAS GOOD
happened: Unknown	by: IVOR BIGGUN
i went to a raya night at the ica and, unusually, it wasn't full of wankers who made me feel inferior.
happened: november 1998	by: betty snake
The last time I visited the ICA was for lunch, prior to attending a garden party at Bucks. palace. what a contrast. Trendy Italian food (which was pretty good) followed by tea and cakes with the Queen. (The cakes were excellent- as I suppose you'd expect! There was somwe exhibition on about free parties or something like that and it struck me that those people probably had a very low opinion of the monarchy. A certain Irony I think.
happened: july '99	by: Hugh Stolliday
a quick but belated apology for pissing all over your table football table and then being asked to leave on 6th night of my 21st birthday celebrations (we were trying to recreate the Hearts v Rangers clash from the night before) I don't know why - I'm from South London
happened: 5 years ago last thursdaisy	by: Ben
sitting in the ICA bar the other night, thinking - hey - what ever happened to that julie myers woman i used to spend so much time with, god, i wish she would call me... xx
happened: last month sometime...	by: Cherie Matrix
Memories: Of the terrible sound sytem in the bar on supposed club nights. Of consistently being fooled by the illusory wall-length mirror that the bar contains twice as many interesting people as are actually there. Of being presented with a badge carrying the legend PANSY by the emissary of a stranger, who got very angry when I explained I could not accept it. Of a very loud/high leapordskin clad American at a CLear Records party explaining into my tape recorder that her childhood was pretty fucked-up but that money was the answer to everything.
happened: 96-99	by: Chunkster
I had just arrived in london to live about a week earlier and had come to see the OneDotZero festival. Excited by having discovered the ICA and having serrendipitously timed my arrival to coincide with the show, I had, perhaps naively, expected to meet people after the screenings and discuss the implications of the work shown. Unfortunately, the room had the characteristic buzz of pretension which has always reviled me in most galleries. Not one to crash a party alone, particularly a clickish one, I played a game on the Sony Playstation and went home feeling simultaneously angry and hopeful. It was a moment which reminded me of the the ongoing difficulty I have with the world of art: While I am constantly in search of ideas which challenge the manner in which we construct & understand the world, I am consistently faced with people who are more interested in appearances and with associating themselves to something "avant garde" than with the true nature of the ideas presented. Nevertheless, I return to the ICA because I believe in the genuine interests of the curators and the artists presented. Breathing deeply to calm my disgust in those moments where I am faced with vapid pretensions, I press forward in an ongoing practice of connecting myself to ideas and people who paticipate in remaking the world we live in and presenting a vision of possibility.
happened: 6May99	by: anonymous
Been twice, once dressed as John Major, in the book shop. Then to Batmacoomba. I found it 'not me here', everybody was in Alexander McQueen, and I found it quite alienating. Its still a place for Graphics to me & slickness.
happened: August'98	by: Can't Say Yet....?, but will soon
Going to a completely over-rated Scanner night. God, that was dull
happened: few months back	by: Bruce Lee
My happiest memory of the ICA bar was seeing a certain member of Bank get slapped round the face not once but twice by a certain young lady at their Christmas Newspaper launch! I heard later that this particular asshole had been cheating on the girl who slapped and then had the cheek to say that all women are mad!
happened: Unknown	by: Anonymous
Attention, said the frount of her shirt, les mecs regardent. She was apt - by her fine profile, noble forehead, youthful limbs and urban demour- to have moved Parmigianino. He might have made of her a poised virgin or st Catherine - engaged, but ever within the frame - and not an Antea, who stares you out and causes you to fear for her. Signorina, va been ?. . . .Bene, Grazie . . .I fusilli, par favoure, e la torta di prungne.
happened: in calender years, beauty escapes calender	by: Robert del Quiaro
emptying the contents of my pockets into poster frame
happened: 2years ago	by: andy cooke
Around April of 92 I ran a series of Acoustic music evenings as a member of a duo 'East meets West ' where song writers could be heard. It was in the cafe/bar and we often had to wait until the other perfomances were finished before we began. One evening Bob Dylan wandered in ! nobody recognised him (not even the staff). I convinced him to play and he borrowed my guitar and played "Don't think twice, its alright". We jammed and he left (off into the night). The club was called "The Acoustic Cafe "
happened: 1992	by: David Buckley
Sweet Synchronicity On an evening in October 96 in the ICA bar, after having impulsively bought Batailles "The tears of Eros" from the ICA bookshop, I suddenly noticed that a voluptuously attractive woman had also bought a copy. "SNAP" I said, throwing my book down on her table, and our relationship has continued happily to this day.
happened: 12.10.96	by: john hannon