Nervous Systems. Musarc + Jennifer Walshe + Sam Belinfante at Institute of Contemporary Arts, Sun 14 Apr 2024, 2–5pm & 5.30–8pm

On Sunday 14 April 2024, Musarc will be performing Jennifer Walshe’s The White Noisery at the ICA Institute of Contemporary Arts as part of Nervous Systems, a half-day provocation in two parts where artists, musicians and theorists to examine systems on the brink of collapse and offer an invitation to break down and examine the opaque and complex ties that bind.

Embodied, economic, environmental and sonic systems are interrogated as contributors consider how technology, money, warfare and politics grasp us. As bodies, citizens and actors in the global flow, we act and are acted upon. Crucially together, the symposium asks: How can we exist in structures that are failing?

The event, which is curated and chaired by Susanna Davies-Crook, is structured in two sessions – ‘Embodied & Economic’ (2–5pm) and ‘Environmental & Sonic’ (5.30–8pm). Part I includes a presentation and screening by artists Leah Clements and Sophie Hoyle (The Body Before Me) followed by a discussion with Kinda Studios and Red Medicine; and presentations and discussions with Jaya Klara Brekke, Wassim Alsindi, Georgina Voss and Shumon Basar (Systems at the Brink). Part II starts with a guided meditation on ‘Becoming Plant’ by Wild Alchemy Lab, a screening by Diana Policarpo, a talk on Collapsology by Richard Hames; and a musical exploration of falling, failing and flailing by Musarc’s long-standing ensemble member and Associate Creative Director, artist Sam Belinfante, On Falling Short. The event culminates in Musarc’s performance of Walshe’s The White Noisery.

£11 tickets for either/£22 for both parts of the event are available from the Institute of Contemporary Art.