ICA is closed from the 30 May – 3 June inclusive.
Fiona Banner aka The Vanity Press, DISARM (landscape), 2024. © Fiona Banner Studio, on display as part of Fiona Banner’s current exhibition at Frith Street Gallery.
Book tickets
Fiona Banner aka The Vanity Press and Xiaolu Guo will discuss recent films by Banner, and their shared interest in the slippages of language and conflict. Banner will present two recent short films along with as a selection of earlier works including Pranayama Organ (2021). The conversation will be hosted by Millie Walton.
Fiona Banner explores language, conflict and gender through a range of media. The struggle between language and its limitations is central to her approach. In her two most recent films, Banner considers the possibilities and meanings embodied in the word ‘Disarm’, where nature and landscape collide with the contradictory realities of destruction, naivety and hope.
DISARM (landscape) (2024) captures the absurdity of military flypasts which Banner describes as ‘a raw moment of extreme weather; a violent murmuration.’ This flypast manifests an instant in which language meets its limits – subverting the macho message of military power by presenting the planes in formation, racing across an immense cloudscape spelling out an unexpected message.
DISARM (portrait) (2023) is what Banner describes as: ‘a gravity defiant concrete poem – which is actually more fluid than concrete.’ The film presents Topshop dummies that have been taken apart and repurposed, limbs hurtling through the sky emblazoned with texts referring to parts of the body as well as to the body politic.
DISARM (landscape) and DISARM (portrait) are both on display as part of Fiona Banner’s current exhibition at Frith Street Gallery, Golden Square until 3 May.
Fiona Banner explores language, conflict and gender through a range of media. The struggle between language and its limitations is central to her approach. In her two most recent films, Banner considers the possibilities and meanings embodied in the word ‘Disarm’, where nature and landscape collide with the contradictory realities of destruction, naivety and hope.
DISARM (landscape) (2024) captures the absurdity of military flypasts which Banner describes as ‘a raw moment of extreme weather; a violent murmuration.’ This flypast manifests an instant in which language meets its limits – subverting the macho message of military power by presenting the planes in formation, racing across an immense cloudscape spelling out an unexpected message.
DISARM (portrait) (2023) is what Banner describes as: ‘a gravity defiant concrete poem – which is actually more fluid than concrete.’ The film presents Topshop dummies that have been taken apart and repurposed, limbs hurtling through the sky emblazoned with texts referring to parts of the body as well as to the body politic.
DISARM (landscape) and DISARM (portrait) are both on display as part of Fiona Banner’s current exhibition at Frith Street Gallery, Golden Square until 3 May.
Fiona Banner aka The Vanity Press is an artist based in London. In 1997 she started her own publishing imprint The Vanity Press, with her monumental The Nam. She deploys a playful performative attitude to publishing, in 2009 she issued herself an ISBN number and registered herself as a publication under her own name. Selected recent solo presentations include DISARM, CIRCA, Piccadilly Circus, London (2024), DISARM, Chester Contemporary (2023), Pranayama Typhoon – Soft Parts Wing Flap Fin, HMKV Dortmund, Germany (2022) and Pranayama Typhoon, Patronato Salesiano Leone XIII, Venice, Italy (2022).
Xiaolu Guo is a writer and filmmaker based in London. Born in China, she studied at the Beijing Film Academy and moved to Britain in 2002 to study at the National Film and Television School, having lived in various European cities. Her first English-language novel was shortlisted for the Orange Prize and in 2013 she was named one of Granta’s best young British novelists. Her new novel Call Me Ishmaelle and memoir My Battle of Hastings: Chronicle of a Year by the Sea were both released this year. Her films have also been showcased at festivals internationally including the Sundance Film Festival and the Locarno International Film Festival.
Millie Walton is a writer, editor and curator based in Somerset. Her work spans art criticism, fiction and poetry. Formerly Digital Editor at Apollo magazine, her writing has appeared in The Guardian, Burlington Contemporary, Flash Art, Wallpaper and Plaster, among other publications. She is the founder of the art and research group Babe Station, through which she recently curated Sorry about the mess, an exhibition supported by Bow Arts and featuring artists and writers who are also mothers. In August, she will present her moveable poems in a solo exhibition at BOTH Gallery, Highgate.
Xiaolu Guo is a writer and filmmaker based in London. Born in China, she studied at the Beijing Film Academy and moved to Britain in 2002 to study at the National Film and Television School, having lived in various European cities. Her first English-language novel was shortlisted for the Orange Prize and in 2013 she was named one of Granta’s best young British novelists. Her new novel Call Me Ishmaelle and memoir My Battle of Hastings: Chronicle of a Year by the Sea were both released this year. Her films have also been showcased at festivals internationally including the Sundance Film Festival and the Locarno International Film Festival.
Millie Walton is a writer, editor and curator based in Somerset. Her work spans art criticism, fiction and poetry. Formerly Digital Editor at Apollo magazine, her writing has appeared in The Guardian, Burlington Contemporary, Flash Art, Wallpaper and Plaster, among other publications. She is the founder of the art and research group Babe Station, through which she recently curated Sorry about the mess, an exhibition supported by Bow Arts and featuring artists and writers who are also mothers. In August, she will present her moveable poems in a solo exhibition at BOTH Gallery, Highgate.
Book tickets
06:45 pm
Sat, 26 Apr 2025
Cinema 1
Ticket information
- All tickets that do not require ID (full price, disabled, income support) can be printed at home or stored in email
- For aged-based concession tickets (under 25, student) please bring relevant ID to collect at the front desk before the event.
Access information
Cinema 1
- Both our Cinemas have step free access from The Mall and are accessible by ramp
- We have 1 wheelchair allocated space with a seat for a companion
- All seats are hard back, have a crushed velvet feel and they do not recline
- These are our seat size dimensions: W 42 x D 45 x H 52
- Arm rest either side of the seat dimensions: L 27 x W 7 x H 20
for the following requirements:
- We have unassigned seating. If you require a specific seat, please reserve this in advance
- Free for visitors where ticket prices are a barrier, please email
All films are ad-free and 18+ unless otherwise stated, and start with a 10 min. curated selection of trailers.
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no. 236848.