Video's not always rock'n'roll suicide

Most pop videos used to represent the nadir of pop music: there seemed to be no middle ground between triviality and pomposity. It took film directors sticking an oar in to really stir things up. Jonathan Demme made a simple film to accompany New Order's"Perfect Kiss". (He'd already revitalised the concert film with the Talking Heads' Stop Making Sense.) Derek Jarman assembled The Queen Is Dead, which brought a collage of images to three songs by the Smiths (with Morrissey, left). Wim Wenders a nd Spike Lee were quick to follow, and Martin Scorsese was handed the prestigious task of providing a promo for Michael Jackson's "Bad".

This week, the ICA celebrates the medium with a short season entitled "Eye and Ear". The Residents, America's legendary music/performance outfit, are prominently featured in the form of their latest CD-ROMs, "Ginger Bread Man" and "Freak Show". These 30-minute programmes will be screened to groups of four on a first-come, first-served basis. Those terrified by technology should take sanctuary in Half Japanese: the Band that Would Be King, a bizarre voyage through America's musical underground which claims to be the Spinal Tap of the Nineties, and a selection of programmes highlighting videos by The Breeders, Blur and Frank Black. Rock and roll.

ICA, The Mall SW1 (071-930 3647) to 8 Feb. Charing Cross/Piccadilly Tubes