Congratulations to Ikon Trustee Helen Higson OBE who has been  appointed as the new Vice Lord-Lieutenant to the West Midlands’ Lord-Lieutenant, John Crabtree OBE. 

Ikon is delighted to announce the reopening of its gallery premises in Brindleyplace, on Thursday 20 August.

The latest post from By Dean Kelland, Ikon’s artist in residence at HMP Grendon.    “I spent the last week picking up oddly shaped pebbles…”

We are pleased to announce that Australian Aboriginal artist Yhonnie Scarce will return to Ikon in Spring 2021 to continue her artist residency and present an exhibition of new work in Ikon’s Tower Room.

In anticipation of Langlands & Bell’s postponed exhibition The Past Is Never Dead…it’s not Even Past at Gallery 1957, Ghana, Gus Casley-Hayford (Director, V&A East) and Jonathan Watkins (Director, Ikon and Curator of this exhibition) join Langlands & Bell, to discuss a range of issues raised by the artists’ new body of works, which explore the architecture of the ‘Slave Forts’ built on the coast of Ghana by European traders following the construction of the Elmina Castle by the Portuguese in 1482.

Ikon is delighted to be awarded an Art Fund Small Project Grant to commission a new digital artwork, titled year zero, by Haroon Mirza, as part of his ongoing ‘modular opera’. This ‘missing’ chapter consists of a film featuring performers singing a new text, and playing music composed by the artist, from the windows of their homes. Mirza’s inspiration is the widely circulated smartphone footage of communities in Italy, singing from their balconies and windows at the start of the COVID-19 lockdown, their small but rousing balcony performances capturing a collective sense of optimism and unity.

It’s been a year since Hew Locke’s Ikon exhibition Here’s the thing, his most comprehensive exhibition to date. Since then the show has toured the United States, firstly to Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, Kansas City, Missouri and now currently showing at Colby College Museum of Art, Maine. We are pleased to announce that the exhibition dates at Colby College Museum of Art have been extended until 29 November 2020. Please note that the gallery remains closed temporarily, please check their website for reopening dates.

This month, artist Dean Kelland’s residency at HMP Grendon features in an article in Inside Time written by one of the prison’s residents.

Ikon is excited to be taking part in Midsummer Festival, a free one-day festival celebrating arts and culture in the West Midlands on Saturday 20 June.

Ikon has been awarded a Research Continuity Grant by Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art to undertake research on members of the Blk Art Group who exhibited at the gallery during the 1990s. This includes artist Keith Piper who in Summer 2021 will present a new digital film reflecting on the proposition of A Ship Called Jesus, an earlier work by him about the legacy of the slave trade.

The latest post by Dean Kelland, Ikon’s artist in residence at HMP Grendon.   “I am a great thief of tender moments.”

During lockdown Ikon Youth Programme have been meeting digitally. One of their recent projects involved writing a ‘Dear Nature’ letter, inspired by John Newling’s work, reflecting on their relationship with nature. Find out more @ikonyouthprogramme

Artist John Newling and writer Alys Fowler exchange letters on their daily walks, through residential areas and open spaces in Nottingham and Birmingham. Reflecting on the pattern language of these environs and their own behaviours, some happy accidents and moments of connection occur.

By James Latunji-Cockbill, Producer – Art at HMP Grendon

While the gallery is temporarily closed, we continue to share our exhibitions and activities via our digital channels. Please continue to visit Ikon’s website and engage with us via social media.

The latest post by Dean Kelland, Ikon’s artist in residence at HMP Grendon.   “You forget where you are and feel normal for three hours.”

The latest post by Dean Kelland, Ikon’s artist in residence at HMP Grendon.   “Elvis always wins…and you should know that!”

Ikon is delighted to announce the appointment of Melanie Pocock as Curator.

Join us for our annual Winter Craft Market on Thursday 12 December, 5.30-8.30pm, expanded over both floors of the gallery. Take the opportunity to meet a range of local independent makers, with artisan food and drink alongside stalls selling jewellery, gifts, cards and books plus music from the Diskery and 20% off in Ikon Shop.

Each year Koestler Arts award and give feedback to over 3000 people across 50 categories for submitting artwork. This year there were over 60 entries from HMP Grendon, including painting, drawing, poetry and mixed media.

Ikon is delighted to announce plans for 2020-21 including exhibitions, off-site projects and events.

Did you know Cass Art sponsor our Learning Programme? Watch this video to see our Family Team use Cass Art materials to make Barry Flanagan inspired leaping hares. Roll and cut your own leaping hares!

Claudia Losi’s Being There includes this site-specific performance along Birmingham’s canals.

In the early 1970s, Carlyle Reedy, Paul Burwell and David Toop were invited to perform in Flanagan’s exhibition at the Rowan Gallery, London, though little remains of this improvised performance as it was not recorded or filmed. For Ikon, Toop explores the ghostliness of such events, disinterring memories from virtually nothing – a photograph, voices of living witnesses (if they can be persuaded) or perhaps instruments and gestures used over 45 years ago.