Numbers 17-18 on London’s Dover Street in Mayfair still house what many would consider a gallery of sorts. Rei Kawakubo’s Dover Street Market may be a multi-level department store but that’s definitely not all the space has to offer its customers.

The ethos of Kawakubo’s London flagship is defined by the many collaborative ideals and works displayed there by other like-minded creatives, shown throughout specifically adapted areas which designers are encouraged to alter in order to suit their collections, resulting in an ever-changing interior as dynamic as the clothing on sale. “Tachiagari”, or “new beginnings” happen every six months.

Between 1950 and 1968 however, the Institute of Contemporary Arts was based in the building. This month, it returns, filling all six floors of DSM with an extensive installation of archive images and materials, going back in time from the beginning to the end of its residency.

It was in this  building the ICA staged some of the most important shows in the history of post-war British art, as well as ground-breaking exhibitions by Francis Bacon, Lucian Freud, Pablo Picasso and Jackson Pollock. Pop Art was cultivated there, as well as Op Art and Brutalist Architecture, which has its roots firmly stuck in the foundations of the Mayfair building.

This project also coincides with Richard Hamilton at the ICA and the publication of Institute of Contemporary Arts: 1946 – 1968 by Anne Massey and Gregor Muir.

ICA Off-Site: Dover Street Market
11 Feb – 6 Apr 2014
Free Exhibition
Dover Street Market, 17-18 Dover Street, London, W1S 4LT