In June 2024, Ikon presents new work by Midlands-based artist Exodus Crooks at The Exchange, the University of Birmingham’s city centre venue in Centenary Square.

Commissioned by Ikon and University of Birmingham, with support from Vivid Projects, Crook’s new artwork intersects with The Stuart Hall Archive Project, a new University of Birmingham research project that expands public understanding and engagement with the work of celebrated Jamaican-British academic and cultural theorist, Professor Stuart Hall (1932 – 2014). The archive will be fully catalogued by the Cadbury Research Library team over the course of the project, which is split into three main strands: Conjunctures, Readings and Dialogues.

Exodus Crooks’ new work is presented as part of AI : FUTURES runs from February to November 2024 at The Exchange and invites audiences to join the University of Birmingham on a journey into the brave new world of artificial intelligence. AI has the power to transform industries and enhance lives, yet it raises concerns about job displacement, privacy and security. Through a programme of exhibitions and events, vital questions are explored through the lens of University research.

Exodus Crooks is a British-Jamaican multidisciplinary artist, educator and writer whose art practice centres on the relationship with self. Observing the results of fractious domesticity, despair and passion, their art tends to appear as questions of self-actualisation and the role that religion and spirituality play in that journey to enlightenment.

This new commission is supported by University of Birmingham and Ikon Investment Fund. It is the latest in a series of collaborations between Ikon and The Exchange, including Foka Wolf, Why Are We Stuck in Hospital? and Vanley Burke, A Gift to Birmingham.

Exodus Crooks at The Exchange is presented as part of Ikon’s 60th anniversary year. It follows Exodus Crooks’ exhibition Epiphany (Temporaire) at Ikon Gallery (9 February – 21 April 2024), commissioned by Ort Gallery and International Curators Forum (ICF), and curated by Orphée Kashala.