Launched by ICA Director Stefan Kalmar last year, the now annual Friends Dinner pays tribute to a global public figure who aligns with the institution’s history and current work. This year it’s activist Chelsea Manning, who passed on documents to Wikileaks that detailed America’s human rights abuses and corruption in Afghanistan and Iraq, and was imprisoned for seven years until her sentence was commuted by Barack Obama. Since her release Chelsea has campaigned for government transparency and queer and trans rights, and also stood in a Democratic primary for the US Senate.
Coming to London on October 1st she will take part in a Q&A hosted by the ICA at the Royal Institution and will discuss everything from the Panama Papers to Cambridge Analytica and fellow whistleblower Edward Snowden. It will be followed by a dinner at the gallery.
Stefan Kalmar joined the ICA in 2016 from Artists Space in New York, and has since pushed a more the institution in a more politically and socially engaged direction. Hosting work by Forensic Architecture — who use architecture to investigate governments — and the premiere of Laura Poitras’ documentary Citizenfour. It represents “vital artistic engagements with some of the most pressing issues of our time,” as Stefan says via a press release. “Honouring Chelsea Manning in today’s media and political landscape will, I hope, show that the power of an individual can change the world through bravery, courage, determination and vision. We could not be happier to welcome Chelsea to London and to the Institute of Contemporary Arts.”