Its early focus was on video, film, theatre and new media but this was subsequently expanded to include experimental literature, drama, sculpture and multimedia all based on art/technology crossovers.
In October 1969 the New Arts Lab opened on Robert Street, Camden Town, in a former chemical factory, with a screening of David Larcher's Mare's Tail (1969).
This new arts centre, in addition to housing theatre, gallery and cinema space, also provided a base for the LFMC distribution office, screening and a newly equipped film workshop with a step printer and neg/reversal processor.
For its brief life, J G Ballard, Joe Tilson and David Ormsby-Gore, 5th Baron Harlech, were among IRAT's formal patrons.
When IRAT closed in March 1971, many of its organizers moved with the London Filmmakers Co-op to the Dairy, Prince of Wales Crescent.