Prem Sahib: Side On

For his first institutional solo exhibition in London, Prem Sahib will present new and recent work in the Lower and Upper Galleries at the ICA. A palpable sense of the body and human touch permeates throughout Sahib’s works, which comprise sculpture, paintings, works on paper and performance. Often minimal and sparse in colour, Sahib’s works invariably stand in for the body rather than offer a figurative representation. Through objects, performances and installations, Sahib explores both formal and autobiographical themes, relating often to intimacy, sexuality, relationships, desire and community. Sahib is interested in exploring the relationship between public and personal spaces, often evoking a sense of intimate encounters that remain hidden from plain sight in public places. 

Sahib’s work is informed by an interest in the architecture and atmosphere of spaces that act as meeting places, particularly for gay communities within cities such as London or Berlin, for example clubs and other cruising locations, or the internet. Sahib also considers these communities within the wider context of club culture. In parallel with his practice is Sahib’s collaborative live practice, hosting DJ and performance nights at various venues. Significantly, Sahib collaborates with his peers, Eddie Peake and George Henry Longly, on a peripatetic club night Anal House Meltdown which has regularly taken place in east London and other cities in Europe. 

Born in London in 1982, Prem Sahib lives and works in London. Recent solo exhibitions include Tongues, Jhaveri Contemporary, Mumbai, 2014; Night Flies at Southard Reid, and Frieze Frame presentation; Back Chat, Lorcan O’Neill Gallery, Rome, 2013; He Looked Me Up, Marian Cramer Projects, Amsterdam. Group exhibitions include Britain Can Make It, Hayward Gallery, London, 2015; I am here but you’ve gone, Fiorucci Art Trust, London, 2015; Burning Down the House, Gwangju Biennale, 2014. Performances include Woman to Woman, Gallery Vela, London, 2012; Bijou, Ibid Projects, London, and Darkroom with Eddie Peake, Vogue Fabrics, Take Courage London 2011.

Lead Programme Supporter: Maryam and Edward Eisler
Supported by Cockayne – Grants for the Arts, The London Community Foundation. With additional support from Galleria Lorcan O’Neill, Southard Reid and the Prem Sahib Exhibition Supporters Group

Related events:

Exhibition party
Wednesday, September 23, 7pm–1am
With DJs including Alex Padfield, Eddie Peake and George Henry Longly

Educators’ gallery tour: Prem Sahib
Led by ICA Head of Programme Katharine Stout
Wednesday, September 30, 5pm

Artist’s talk: Prem Sahib
Wednesday, October 28, 6:30pm

Gallery tour led by Victor Buchli
Thursday, November 12, 6:30pm

Prem Sahib and Jeffrey Hinton: UNPLUCT
Thursday, November 12, 8pm
Presenting a night of DJs, music and performance in the ICA Theatre

Also at the ICA:

Everything is Architecture: Bau Magazine from the ’60s and ’70s
July 29–October 4, 2015
ICA Fox Reading Room

ICA Associate Poet Sophie Collins presents:

“Worthless Objects”
Thursday, October 8, 6:45pm
Presenting commissioned works by poets; speakers include Rachael Allen, Sophie Collins, Daisy Lafarge, Kathryn Maris and Denise Saul.

“Currently & Emotion”
Panel discussion and performances
Tuesday, November 17, 6pm

ICA Off-Site:

ICA Off-Site: Digbeth, Birmingham in association with Selfridges Live + Loud
October 2–4, 2015
119 Floodgate Street, Digbeth, Birmingham B5 5TL

The ICA, in association with Selfridges, presents ICA Off-site: Digbeth, Birmingham. The off-site project coincides with Selfridges’ Live + Loud Festival and is the ICA’s first project in the city. ICA Off-Site: Digbeth, Birmingham aims to reference recent trends in contemporary urban sub-cultures and features a temporary exhibition and music programme that draws on Birmingham’s mix of industrial and post-war brutalist architecture, celebrating the city of Birmingham as a centre for creativity and a source of inspiration. Participants include Fergadelic, Tyrone Lebon, Ben Sansbury, Tim & Barry / Just Jam and Ashley Williams.

Tim & Barry present Tom of England
Friday, October 2, 8–12pm

JUST JAM present, Barely Legal, Crack Stevens, Scratcher, Tsunga
Saturday, October 3, 8–12pm

October 3–4:
Exhibition opening hours: 11am–6pm

The project is organised in partnership with Selfridges & Co and supported by the Arts Council.