Expanding Wielebinski’s exploration of the boundaries of private and public spaces, with references spanning sci-fi, Cold War legacies and games, The Red Sun is High, the Blue Low transforms the ICA into an investigation of constructed worlds within worlds. In doing so, Wielebinski responds to our neighbours on The Mall: Buckingham Palace, St. James’s Park, and the Admiralty Citadel. The exhibition’s title is taken from a 1978 essay by science fiction writer and critic Samuel R. Delany. Delany uses the sentence as an example of the corrective and revisionary process of reading science fiction, in which ‘each new word revises the complex picture we had a moment before.’

From the shop

Wed 20 September – Sun 17 December 2023


Exhibition hours:
Tuesday to Thursday: 4 – 9pm
Friday to Sunday: 12 – 9pm

Tickets £5, valid all day.

Free for ICA Members, some concessions, and on Tuesdays.

Book online, by phone 020 7930 3647 or email sales@ica.art




Saturday 16 Dec, 1:30pm
Paranoid Scores in The Dark: Kem School 
Setting up camp in the absurdist bunker of Gray Wielebinski’s exhibition, Kem invites you to a  workshop. Study in the dark with Jose Funnell, Michał Grzegorzek, Stefa Gosiewsk, Ola Knychalska and Tosia Leniarska.

Saturday 16 Dec, 4pm

False Freedom: Silencing in the Arts on Solidarity with Palestine
In conjunction with the current exhibition, this panel of artists and thinkers addresses the present context of censorship in the arts.




Tuesday 19 September, 6:30pm
Exhibition Preview

Opening night of the exhibition with a DJ set by Lil C.

Tuesday 26 Sep, 8pm
Book Launch: Gray Wielebinski, The Red Sun is High, the Blue Low
A companion piece to the exhibition edited by Wielebinski, featuring writing by Asa Seresin, Larne Abse Gogarty and Maxi Wallenhorst, alongside archival imagery.

Tuesday 10 Oct, 7pm
Discussion group with Eliel Jones
Eliel Jones leads a discursive session extending from the exhibition themes exploring the practice of hosting as a queer, artistic and curatorial method.

Sunday 5 Nov, 2pm
Workshop with bones tan jones
A workshop responding to the exhibition’s central motif, the sun.


Wednesday 15 Nov, 6:30pm
Sublime Paranoia: Huw Lemmey, Ian Penman and Asa Seresin in conversation
Expanding on themes within Gray Wielebinski’s exhibition, the speakers will present aspects of their own research across queer iconographies and histories.


Thursday 16 Nov, 6:30pm
Heather Love, Underdogs: Social Deviance and Queer Theory
The author leads a reading group on her 2021 book Underdogs: Social Deviance and Queer Theory.

Saturday 2 Dec, 2 – 6pm

The Toxic Consultancy: Game Edition
The Toxic Consultancy is a game that deepens and disrupts the relationship between taxonomies and toxicities. Held in the exhibition space and led by artist Mary Maggic.

Tuesday 5 Dec, 5pm
Dragging Workshop: Eglė Budvytytė led by Fernanda Muñoz-Newsome
A somatic and participatory workshop led by artist Fernanda Muñoz-Newsome working with Egle Budvytyte’s dragging practice.


Saturday 9 Dec, 2pm
Choreographic workshop with Maria Metsalu

A workshop of group choreographic instructions to dance together, embody feelings and explore a sense of safety in stillness with one another.

Tuesday 3 Oct – Tuesday 12 Dec
Gray Wielebinski’s Film Club
A series of films picked by Gray, foregrounding the question of paranoia.