Art gallery announces 2024 exhibitions as part of 60th year celebrations
Ikon, Birmingham's internationally acclaimed contemporary art gallery, has announced their upcoming plans for 2024 where the gallery celebrates its 60th anniversary.
Established as an artists-led alternative space in the Bullring in 1964, Ikon remains free to all and committed to showcasing the very best of British and international art.
Ikon's 60 years sees artists responding to archives, collections and heritage sites.
In the Spring, a vintage printing press, on loan from Wolverhampton School of Art, will form the centrepiece of a print exhibition with Jerwood Foundation. A traditional means of production is contrasted with a major off-site digital commission, by Ikon in partnership with The Exchange, University of Birmingham in response to The Stuart Hall Archive Project.
In Summer 2024, Ikon is partners up with National Treasures 2024, The National Gallery's Bicentenary celebration, for which Ikon hosts Artemisia Gentileschi's Self Portrait as Saint Catherine of Alexandria (about 1615-17).
Also in the Summer, Ikon partners with English Heritage to commission an artist's response to the J. W. Evans Silver Factory in Birmingham's historic Jewellery Quarter with support from the Foundation Foundation.
The Autumn/Winter programme features an exhibition with the British Council Collection and macLYON: Friends in Love and War / Meilleur-es ennemies, showing work by over 20 artists, based around the theme of friendship.
Ikon's Education Programme addresses key social issues whilst championing arts education, often working off-site with artists to collaborate with communities.
Ikon's artist residency Art at HMP Grendon, generously supported by the Marie-Louise von Motesiczky Charitable Trust, enters its 10th year with a focus on the development of artistic practice within a dedicated studio space at the prison.
Ikon Youth Programme (IYP), funded by Freelands Foundation, reflects on its navigation of the waterways on board Slow Boat, offering an alternative curriculum against the backdrop of funding cuts to arts education.
Ikon's partnership with the School of Education, University of Birmingham, continues with a series of Teacher Twilights that challenge assumptions about migration, breaking down institutional and intercommunal barriers within the classroom.
Partnering with Birmingham City Council's Public Health Division, Ikon supports different arts and health initiatives, including the question of how we feed infants in public spaces.
