Talk 27.03.2025–29.05.2025
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Thursday Spotlight Tour
Ikon is an internationally acclaimed contemporary art venue located in Birmingham, UK. Free entry.
IKON SHOP
Browse books, prints, stationery, jewellery, homeware and gifts.
All profits support Ikon’s charitable artistic and educational programme.
HIRE IKON FOR YOUR EVENT
Housed in a beautiful Victorian building, Ikon Gallery has versatile spaces, accommodating 10 to 500 guests.
Get in touch today to discuss your event with a member of our team.
ART AT HMP GRENDON
With a focus on the development of the prisoners’ artistic practice, Ikon has opened the Marie-Louise von Motesiczky Studio at HMP Grendon – a dedicated space for workshops, in printing and painting, and a changing programme of exhibitions, art historical and contemporary.
Funded by the Marie-Louise von Motesiczky Charitable Trust.
IKON YOUTH PROGRAMME
Over three years (2021-24) Ikon Youth Programme (IYP) navigates the waterways on board Slow Boat, a converted narrow boat. IYP are collaborating with creative thinkers and makers to reimagine Slow Boat as a local art school.
Funded by Freelands Foundation.
ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY
Ikon is dedicated to minimising its impact on the environment and we strive to make our operations and exhibitions as sustainable as possible.
FREE DIGITAL GUIDE
Explore Ikon with our free digital guide on Bloomberg Connects, the arts and culture App.
Listen to audio guides, watch films and discover more.
Events
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Event 20.05.2025–02.09.2025
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BCU Tuesdays
Talk 25.05.2025–07.09.2025
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Sunday Spotlight Tour
Family/Workshop 27.05.2025 / 11.00am–3.00pm
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Half Term Art Explorer
Current Exhibitions
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Exhibition 20.03.2025–01.06.2025
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Htein Lin
Escape
Ikon presents a major solo exhibition by multidisciplinary artist Htein Lin from Myanmar.
Evoking his lifelong commitment to documenting human experience in difficult times, it shows a comprehensive selection of the artist’s paintings made while he was a political prisoner from 1998 to 2004 on prison uniforms and found textile, alongside drawing, sculpture, video and new work.
Exhibition 20.03.2025–01.06.2025
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Mahtab Hussain
What Did You Want To See?
British artist Mahtab Hussain explores the fine line between photographic documentation and surveillance culture, addressing the intelligence sites established by the media and the state to monitor the Muslim community in Britain.
Exhibition 27.03.2025–16.06.2025
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Tomoko Yoneda
At the Daiwa Anglo-Japanese Foundation, London
Curated by Melanie Pocock, Ikon Artistic Director (Exhibitions), this show presents a selection of photography by London-based Japanese artist Tomoko Yoneda, produced over the past thirty years. It is shown at the Daiwa Anglo-Japanese Foundation.
Upcoming Exhibitions
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Exhibition 02.06.2025–24.06.2025
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GALLERIES CLOSED FOR INSTALLATION
Ikon’s Galleries are closed while we install our new exhibition. Ikon Shop and Yorks Café are open as usual.
Exhibition 25.06.2025–07.09.2025
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Thread the Loom
Ikon presents a group exhibition celebrating the art of weaving.
An AVL Studio Dobby loom, on loan from Birmingham City University (BCU), will be activated through a series of micro-residencies with five West Midlands weavers Chantelle Folarin, Mahawa Keita, Clare Langford, Andrée Walker and Theo Wright, and international artist Seulgi Lee. Textiles produced on the loom will be exhibited alongside work by contemporary artists Raisa Kabir, Alis Oldfield, Bharti Parmar, Dinah Prentice and Su Richardson.
Exhibition 25.06.2025–07.09.2025
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Seulgi Lee
SPAN
Ikon presents the first UK solo exhibition by artist Seulgi Lee.
Born in Seoul and living in Paris since 1992, Seulgi Lee’s artwork is shaped by the use of colour, gesture, simple yet elegant forms and performance.
Exhibition 01.10.2025–22.02.2026
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Donald Locke
Resistant Forms
The first major survey of Guyanese-British artist Donald Locke (1930-2010).
Latest News
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Artist Residency 21.05.2025
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Robert Zhao Renhui, Artist Residency
The residency at Wigwell Lodge has offered me a rare kind of quiet – one that sharpens my attention to both visible and invisible movements in the landscape. It’s been a time of listening, walking and noticing subtle shifts in weather, wildlife and time.
Slow Boat 14.05.2025
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Slow Boat continues its journey
By Nicola Shipley, Director, GRAIN Projects
Over the last few weeks, we have continued journeying north on the canal, through Stoke-on-Trent, delivering artist-led workshops with groups from across Stoke-on-Trent.
Exhibitions 08.05.2025
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Ikon Announces Summer Exhibitions
Ikon announces new summer exhibitions.
Slow Boat 28.04.2025
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Ikon Slow Boat journeys along the Trent & Mersey Canal, Stoke-on-Trent
By Nicola Shipley, Director, GRAIN Projects
This Spring, Ikon’s Slow Boat is programmed and produced in collaboration with GRAIN Projects, an arts organisation that specialises in contemporary photography and the delivery of socially engaged photography projects, exhibitions and publications regionally and nationally.
Exhibitions 22.04.2025
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Sunsets, Food and Friendship
Researching Educational Partnerships
Ikon presents Sunsets, Food and Friendship, an exhibition of young people’s photography focused on the importance of culture, heritage and identity in shaping a sense of self and belonging.