Wet Mess & Nando Messias. Credit: Anne Tetzlaff
Book tickets
Returning for a second year, Cardion Arts and the ICA are proud to present Cardion Nights: Queer Performance, in aid of akt.
This one-night-only event will feature new work by an incredible line-up of performers, singers and writers including Wet Mess, Nando Messias, Travis Alabanza and Adam Christensen, with more artists to be announced.
Curated by Gemma Rolls-Bentley and Katie Della-Valle, the evening will create a space for the transformative potential of queer performance, while raising vital funds for akt - a charity supporting queer and trans young people experiencing homelessness.
This one-night-only event will feature new work by an incredible line-up of performers, singers and writers including Wet Mess, Nando Messias, Travis Alabanza and Adam Christensen, with more artists to be announced.
Curated by Gemma Rolls-Bentley and Katie Della-Valle, the evening will create a space for the transformative potential of queer performance, while raising vital funds for akt - a charity supporting queer and trans young people experiencing homelessness.
Artist bios:
Wet Mess is a wet mess, horny for your confusion. Let it all out and guess again at the insecure balding white man/pussy prince/alien baby. Have a lollygag, think about your fantasy flesh suits, call me sweet prince, and remember Roger in a robe. Choose to make some silly campy decisions, with all the hairy thems and dykey men. All we really wanna do is strip for the stripper and drive her home with the dogs.
Nando Messias' work straddles performance art, dance and theatre. Their performances combine beautiful images with a fierce critique of gender, visibility and violence. Nando has performed at prestigious venues such as the Royal Court, The Gate, Hayward Gallery, V&A, Tate Britain, Roundhouse, Royal Vauxhall Tavern and ICA, among other spaces across the UK and internationally.
Travis Alabanza is an award winning writer, performer and theatre maker. Their writing has appeared in the BBC, Guardian, Vice, Gal-Dem and previously had a fortnightly column in the metro. After being the youngest recipient of the artist in residency program at Tate Galleries, Alabanza debut show Burgerz toured internationally to sold out shows in Southbank Centre, Sao Paulo Brazil, HAU Berlin & won the Edinburgh Fringe Total Theatre award in 2019.
Adam Christensen is a multidisciplinary artist based in London, whose work is primarily realized through textiles, music, and installation, blurring the boundaries between everyday life and fiction. Based on his immediate experiences, colored by the theatricality of every day, the spectacle of domesticity, chance encounters, and emotional and physical dramas, Christensen conveys these experiences through his performances. A primary concern of Christensen’s practice is the construction and representation of space, and what ‘activates’ that space – the unfolding narrative of heartbreak, desire, memory, and identity. He forms a ‘stage’ from which he interacts with the audience and can edit the narrative, often by singing with the accordion and reading short stories, adding layers to a story in a process of continuous development.
Wet Mess is a wet mess, horny for your confusion. Let it all out and guess again at the insecure balding white man/pussy prince/alien baby. Have a lollygag, think about your fantasy flesh suits, call me sweet prince, and remember Roger in a robe. Choose to make some silly campy decisions, with all the hairy thems and dykey men. All we really wanna do is strip for the stripper and drive her home with the dogs.
Nando Messias' work straddles performance art, dance and theatre. Their performances combine beautiful images with a fierce critique of gender, visibility and violence. Nando has performed at prestigious venues such as the Royal Court, The Gate, Hayward Gallery, V&A, Tate Britain, Roundhouse, Royal Vauxhall Tavern and ICA, among other spaces across the UK and internationally.
Travis Alabanza is an award winning writer, performer and theatre maker. Their writing has appeared in the BBC, Guardian, Vice, Gal-Dem and previously had a fortnightly column in the metro. After being the youngest recipient of the artist in residency program at Tate Galleries, Alabanza debut show Burgerz toured internationally to sold out shows in Southbank Centre, Sao Paulo Brazil, HAU Berlin & won the Edinburgh Fringe Total Theatre award in 2019.
Adam Christensen is a multidisciplinary artist based in London, whose work is primarily realized through textiles, music, and installation, blurring the boundaries between everyday life and fiction. Based on his immediate experiences, colored by the theatricality of every day, the spectacle of domesticity, chance encounters, and emotional and physical dramas, Christensen conveys these experiences through his performances. A primary concern of Christensen’s practice is the construction and representation of space, and what ‘activates’ that space – the unfolding narrative of heartbreak, desire, memory, and identity. He forms a ‘stage’ from which he interacts with the audience and can edit the narrative, often by singing with the accordion and reading short stories, adding layers to a story in a process of continuous development.
Book tickets
07:00 pm
Fri, 20 Mar 2026
Stage
Free (unwaged), £12 (standard ticket) £18 (ticket + akt donation)
Event Information:
• ICA Membership discounts do not apply for this event.
• This event is 18+, general admission, standing.
• This event may involve nudity
• This event may contain the use of haze, fog and flashing lights.
• We have a small raised platform to accommodate wheelchair users or others who require a chair. To request, please purchase a ticket, then contact 020 7930 3647 or access@ica.art
• Full access information available here
There will be a paid cloakroom available for this event. Tickets are £2.50 per item and are available to purchase at the box office.
• ICA Membership discounts do not apply for this event.
• This event is 18+, general admission, standing.
• This event may involve nudity
• This event may contain the use of haze, fog and flashing lights.
• We have a small raised platform to accommodate wheelchair users or others who require a chair. To request, please purchase a ticket, then contact 020 7930 3647 or access@ica.art
• Full access information available here
There will be a paid cloakroom available for this event. Tickets are £2.50 per item and are available to purchase at the box office.
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