Nightclub @ ICA - LONDON KICKS - Fashion, Music, Art, Film, London and Going Out

It may seem a strange location for a rave, but the ground floor of the ICA, which will be open until 4am this Saturday for 'Nightclub', is certainly an intriguing concept. It's definitely a cleaner and more accessible venue than your average warehouse, if nothing else.

It is also one of those events, regardless of whether or not it turns out to be any good, which marks a definite transition for London culture. Nothing makes the rave scene's departure from 'subculture' more obvious than its arrival at the Institute of Contemporary Arts. The next generation have moved into this national bastion of British cultivation and have made it louder, later and inevitably more drug-fuelled. Cue various 'youth of today' disparagements in the Daily Mail.

It being the ICA, they've had to find a lofty explanation for lots of yoots getting mashed in some bright lights and pounding beats, and it's therefore difficult to make out exactly what the night entails. The prospect of 'spectral hallucination' will have every Planet Angel attendee in London trotting down, but see if you can untangle the description on their website: "Nightclub pushes the boundaries of the contemporary art experience as simultaneous scenes collide, escaping normal forms of identity through trance, battles, illicit encounters, unstable visions and music."
To be fair, though, the ICA have the funds, time and resources to put on an event that is completely out of the ordinary, and this is reflected in the musical line-up (see ica.org.uk/nightclub). With compounds such as electro-acoustic and retro-futuristic flying around, they're clearly not interested in putting on anything that could be described as a poor imitation. Plus Martin Stone provides some visual entertainment in the adjacent cinema.

MJ Delaney