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An Evening with Montez Press
Institute of Contemporary Arts
Courtesy of Montez Press

Book tickets

Join independent arts publisher Montez Press for a showcase evening of two of our latest releases: Pay It Forward by SoiL Thornton and Prepositions by Timmy Simonds and Aaron Lehman. Come and celebrate with a night of performances and readings by CAConrad and the authors, as part of their European debut tour. 

Pay It Forward presents three different materials alongside each other as a way of interrogating the underlying conditions of the exhibition, presentation and representation of artistic production. Edited by Nadine Droste, it follows Thornton’s first European solo exhibition 'Decomposition Evaluation' at Kunstverein Bielefeld, Germany.

Prepositions
enacts the distinction between what language says and what it does. Through a catalogue of exercises, interviews, essays and creative explorations, this workbook-compendium invites us to investigate how we practise empathy, understanding, and contact, by learning and teaching all at once.

Montez Press has established itself as a vital contributor to artist-led publishing over the last decade, foregrounding and queering experimental auto, fan and speculative fiction. They are committed to publishing artists' writing including novels, periodicals, digital publishing and monographs. Their programme advances the relationship between artistic practice and queer and feminist politics, creating a platform of support for unexpected creators within the artistic landscape. Montez Press facilitates process-driven publications and the sustained development of artists' work.
Timmy Simonds is an artist who moves between object-making, writing, routines of caretaking, and participatory exercises. Through the fictional character of a teacher he calls MISS OTHMAR, Simonds examines the cultural expectations, nuances, and vulnerabilities inherent in the practice of teaching. This character animates objects and is also found in faculty meetings and workshops. He is currently developing a curriculum for the Miss Othmar School for Teachers, which will be housed at Montez Press Radio’s broadcast studio.

Aaron Lehman is an artist and designer living in Maine. His work attempts to understand art, language, and technology primarily as material processes that are both necessary for and byproducts of communication, through which we extend the self and body, and expand the potential for different types of contact. His work has been exhibited in NYC, London, and Mexico, and his collaborative radio work with Timothy Simonds airs on Montez Press Radio and WGXC Wave Farm.

CAConrad has worked with the ancient technologies of poetry and ritual since 1975. Their latest book is Listen to the Golden Boomerang Return (Wave Books / UK Penguin 2024). They received the Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize, a PEN Josephine Miles Award, a Creative Capital grant, a Pew Fellowship, and a Lambda Award. The Book of Frank is now available in 9 different languages, and they coedited SUPPLICATION: Selected Poems of John Wieners (Wave Books). They exhibit poems as art objects with recent solo shows in Tucson, Arizona, as well as in Spain and Portugal. They teach at the Sandberg Art Institute in Amsterdam. Please visit them here.

SoiL Thornton was born 1990 and lives and works in New York. They have recently had solo exhibitions at Secession Vienna (2023), Kunstverein Bielefeld (2022), Essex Street, New York, and Morán Morán, Los Angeles (both 2021).

Pay It Forward follows SoiL Thornton’s solo exhibition entitled Decomposition Evaluation at Kunstverein Bielefeld, curated by Nadine Droste. The exhibition and book were supported by the Alfried Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach-Stiftung in context of the ”Catalogues for Young Artists” prize. The book was further supported by the Sparkasse Bielefeld, and Hörmann KG. 
 
Book tickets
07:00 pm
Wed, 26 Mar 2025
Cinema 1

£12 full price / £8.50 concession

You can purchase discounted copies of these publications as part of your ticket through the booking link.

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
Please email access@ica.art
for the following requirements:
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Prepositions by Simonds & Lehman, Published by Montez Press
Courtesy SoiL Thornton
Courtesy Simonds & Lehman, and Montez Press Radio
CAConrad photographed by Wolf-Dirk Skiba
Prepositions by Simonds & Lehman, Published by Montez Press
Pay it Forward by SoiL Thornton, Edited by Nadine Droste, Published by Montez Press