Easily accessed by both Charing Cross and Piccadilly Circus Underground Stations, the ICA Gallery is located on Carlton House Terrace in Nash House. The Institute of Contemporary Arts was formed in 1947 and was designed to give British Artists the same facilities offered to artists at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. The following year saw the opening of ICA Gallery.

Pablo Picasso, Henry Moore and Damien Hirst have all had the honour of having their first exhibitions at the ICA Gallery and the ICA continues to have a reputation for pushing the boundaries of all Art forms. Pop Art artists such as David Hockney have first displayed at the ICA and without the ICA Pop Art may never have entered mainstream culture. Photography was previously considered a means of referencing until the exhibits of photography as an Art form at the ICA

The building in which the ICA now resides was built by John Nash and dates back to the early 19th century. The site moved here in 1968. In 1999 the ICA Gallery hosted the largest Art prize in Britain, the Becks Futures prize. A centre dedicated to New Media was opened here in 1997. The ICA Gallery features a cafe for the contemplation and deliberation of both visitors and artists alike.