Ibiza: Moments In Love @ The ICA

Ibiza: Moments In Love, taking place at the ICA between November 27th and 26th January, builds a picture of the White Isle as it was in the eighties, through a collection of club posters, books and a set of previously unpublished pictures by the British photographer Derek Ridgers taken at Ku in 1984.

The exhibition also highlights the work of two great and almost completely unheralded visual artists of the time. Yves Uro, the freehand illustrator and graphic artist of hundreds of posters for Ku & Armin Heinemann, the owner of Paula’s Ibiza, a maverick fashion boutique based on the island. Uro and Heinemann’s work was world class but created solely for local purposes.The show has been curated by IDEA Books with the support of 2manydjs and the Wild Life Archive, letting us in on the fantastical and inspiring time that was 1980’s Ibiza.

At this point, the island was home to three of the most important nightclubs in the world. Ku was the world’s largest outdoor discotheque, built around an Olympic sized swimming pool. Amnesia was the late night / early morning club where DJ Alfredo played Beethoven, Kate Bush and whatever he liked until the sun came up and Pacha was the boutique discotheque that became a global superbrand.

Ibiza had long been an island of freedom. It was a haven for liberal and alternative Spaniards during Franco’s rule. In the early seventies it was a key point on a global hippie trail. In the early eighties it was both a favourite destination of the Club 18-30 holidayers as well as Europe’s yachting fraternity. Ibiza was Europe’s most treasured pleasure island’.

In 1987 four British DJs, including Danny Rampling and Paul Oakenfold, visited the island and were entranced by the Balearic beats. They were so inspired that on their return to London they launched the club nights Shoom and Spectrum, put the acid into house, and went a long way to creating the dance music industry as we now know it.

Entry to Ibiza: Moment In Love is Free. For more information on the ICA and the rest of their shows, you can make the jump to their site.