IKON Gallery Reviews

An excellent venue for enjoying various works of art

Saw the sign, walked in, glad I did. Good food, imaginative menu, decent furniture. Thank you

Wonderful gallery space and a great gift shop selling a wide range of books gifts and stationery items.

It's a chill place where the change the exhibition every couple of months.

Some interesting installation work. Loved the lift.

Lift never disappoints, sometimes the "art"?" does. Challenging.

Fantastic modern art gallery - housed in a lovely building and a great time of year to visit (a certain virus notwithstanding) to catch the blossom in the zen garden at the square in front. Inspiring

Stumbled upon just two exhibits so not much to see but the building is very nice looking

The artists in recently have been pretty mind blowing but not every time.

Great place to visit and a good venue for important events.

The work of modern artist who, in my opinion, is a real artist, but hay may faced alot of bad emotional hardships during his life such as oppression, violence, depression. Most of hiss artworks reflect the pain and mystery behind very simple objects.
He demonstrates the dark bad side of simple items in our life like sandwich, ice cream, etc.
The museum is free and weird, you will fell like that you are in adventure or horror movie. I don't recommendations the exhibit for kids and toddlers.

I quite liked the gallery as there were different media across different floors however there could have been more. Only needed to spend 30mins here really. Still nice for something different to do in Birmingham.

Very good it tells story worst than your own try it get relieved

Fantastic venue that supports a range of artists across many forms. They have good facilities and accessibility. The bar/cafe attached to the gallery make great coffee during the day and have a great range of cocktails and drinks in the evenings too.

Pictures uploaded recently were from craft event, which went great. Was exposed and surprised by what birmingham offers from leather skills to Risograph printing products and services. Beside that IKON hosts shows that are well curated by various artists too. I advise attending that site and especially if there new events within or in the area , besides who would say no to a good cup of coffee from Yorks, located on the ground level of IKON.

Rly good they change the exhibition every 3 months aswell

A small art gallery that is interesting but not worth planning a visit around.

Lovely modern but small gallery in a historic part of Birmingham, real day out. Ikon bookshop and narrow boat are also fantastic. They do a lot to help the arts community in Birmingham too. Would recommend, worth a visit.

Lovely renovated old school building showing interesting and at time challenging modern art.

My favourite gallery by far. Lots going on and a great vibe.

Lots of interesting exhibits, staff are very helpful and friendly.

Fell well below expectations apart from the building not much to see..

First time visitor, Really fascinating, brilliant exhibits, cool space.

For an small contemporary art gallery IKON is "As good as it gets".

I have been to many of the exhibitions at IKON and no two are alike. Each has their own unique feel, message or story to tell. IKON is great at displaying wow pieces as well as some very abstract pieces. Don't worry though, I recommend you pick up the free guides before you go in, usually in a container on the wall. They can be very helpful in giving you a rundown of who the artist is and some of the meaning behind their work.

Artists from all over the world have displayed here and it's especially know to feature UK premieres of work from individuals who would otherwise not have the opportunity.

It's also completely free so you have no excuse not to pay it a visit.

Ikon shows a diverse programme of changing exhibitions of contemporary art together with educational workshops for children.
The exhibition are always interesting but you have to keep your mind open to new ideas.
It offers a rare opportunity for adventure into an unfamiliar world and always worth a visit.
Has a great cafe with the best coffee and great food.

The building itself was very interesting. An old building renovated and new architecture locked onto it. No easy task. However the displays were a waste of time. Unfortunately contemporary art is not my sot of thing - each to their own. I didn't think the use of space was at all effective. Very disappointed.

Room for improvement, exhibitions not always relevant and lack inspiration.

Good for modem art, sometimes shocking. Free entrance. The building itself is magnificent.

Superb space, plenty of interest and in one of my favourite places in Birmingham.

It's really lovely in here, so many interesting artworks.
However there is a haunted room that is terrifying lol.

The cafe at the Ikon was fantastic. Excellent pot of Tea, with a slice of Spinach cake. Fresh herbs growing around the patio smelt great. Very good, friendly service.

Quite a small gallery, nothing too impressive. The space is nice, but not amazing, but the staff is nice.

The installations were absolutely amazing and thought provoking. The staff were all wonderful and loved to talk about the artworks, whilst maintaining respect for other interpretations. The atmosphere is calm and the lack of barriers (at least for the Roger Hiorns installation) allows one to feel a part of the artwork. The small shop has fairly priced products that can also be seen on their website. The architecture is simply stunning, allowing the building to simultaneously fade away yet enhance the works. Overall, a great place to visit.

I always come away inspired by the curation in this gallery. On the day I last visited there was a performance of traditional West African music in one gallery space, which lifted the spirits on an otherwise gloomy, wet and grey day.

Great local gallery that has emerging and established art. Great gift shop for records!

Can be hit or miss with the exhibitions, but that's just personal preference. The building is amazing and in a great location.

Beautiful Kathe Kollwitz exhibition In a gorgeous space
Decent shop with pretty things but no exhibition postcards
Fantastic lunch in the cafe too

The Ikon gallery is a very tiny gallery but with very good art on it. The surroundings are incredible, very lovely, specially during the spring. I encourage anyone in the area to check the gallery out or plan an afternoon trip to see the gallery, because it is worth a visit. Also, it's free!

I always visit when I'm in Birmingham. Really nice space with interesting exhibits. I haven't been in the cafe but usually looks busy which is a good sign

Don t expect something amazing but it is free and it is way better than any other cultural thing around.. I like to enter there when I pass by.

Lovely building tucked away with great light spaces, but at the time for me limited interesting art content.

Cool coffee shop.
Worth a stop but maybe going too far out of your way for.

Enjoyable, interesting and a beautiful space.

I'm really not an art appreciator, but was brought here by my partner and loved the exhibition and thought the building itself was really interesting and beautiful.

Additionally, they had a really good info pack for people like me who like looking at art just a bit more if I know the story behind it.

Small but perfectly formed. Interesting and well curated exhibitions, nice gift shop and good cafe on site - I recommend the Arabian eggs! Lovely way to spend a few hours

For the thousandth time probably. this is not a patch on the old ikon, in location and vision.lazyness has taken over this place and we tread gently and quietly into a polished building. The well heeled are always right though hey?

Fantastic shop with great range of art books and novelty gifts. Interesting gallery - sometimes the exhibits seem obstinately obscure.

Great collections. Nothing too stuffy. The lift experience is a must! :)

Always worthwhile spending an hour here and the shop brims with little gifts for those who want for nothing.

Really interesting gallery holding unique exhibits. I'm not an artist myself so had trouble understanding the "art" of certain exhibits but overall enjoyed my time there.

It's ok. If you like looking at art that is lying on the floor.

Fabulous contemporary art gallery in a converted Victorian school. Well worth visiting

I really love contemporary museums and this was the only contemporary one besides the Birmingham museum which has some contemporary things but there is a lot of paintings.

Ikon reminds me a lot like Tate modern (if anyone hasn t been there it s a must, it s massive) with the contemporary art pieces. If anyone is studying fashion design like I am, and on a budget definitely go to ikon, it s much smaller but you can focus on each of the pieces and definitely will be able to study all the pieces around 1-2 hours depending how in-depth you want to see all the details of the pieces, etc but if you re not someone who looks into it as detailed you ll probably take under an hour for sure.

The only reason I m giving it 4 stars is because they don t have enough floors and more pieces to see, if wish to see more and a plus from the museum is it s free to see.

The elevator is really funny so much try it out, it has a funny tension effect when going up or down, even though if you aren t disable must try it out, only if there isn t any disabled person waiting.

The walk area is slightly narrow when travelling around the stairs that pathway before you enter in to see the pieces just a heads up in case anyone who is disabled and wanted to see it.

There a few piece which you have to go stairs so it s incongruent for disabled people who really would want to see it.

The ikon entrance sign is a Instagram worthy picture with the ikon lit up with each bulbs.

TRAVELLING TO THERE AND BACK -


Travelling back from the museum to the train station/ city centre, you ll need to call for a taxi. There isn t an taxi nearby. There are small cafes around though.

Also I don t think there is a car park where I was dropped off since there was a barrier and a cross section for walking paths only. But you can probably park on other streets and walk to it.

Nice contemporary art gallery. Good exhibition on at present. Set in Brindley place, pleasant part of central Birmingham.

Nice gallery. Free to get in. Normally something of interest to see. Exhibitions change every few months. Good shop and nice food available.

Amazing experience. Simple as that. Staff was friendly and willing to help and explain the actual pieces of Art. Exhibition also was impressive, unfortunately no pictures as I respect fine art not to be snapped in the internet.

Good if you like "art." Bad if you appreciate beauty.

The exhibitions they show are so dry. On the odd occasion they have cool exhibitions.

Amazing art displays, really helpful and knowledgeable assistants too, will definitely go back

Don't expect to spend more than half an hour there. Lots of staff roaming around but no one tell us what the art is all about. And yes don't miss the elevator that was the fun part of the whole ikon.

At the time I visited I only had a small exhibition of 4 paintings.

So much to love, the cafe , shop , gallery and not forgetting the lift which sings as you ride it.

The entrance is probably the best, but some interesting art

Amazing underrated gem of a gallery. Set over a couple of floors, I have visited several times, place is always immaculately clean, friendly staff, free entry but they would like a donation please. Always something interesting there, exhibitions usually change every few months. A great place to visit for an hour or lunch break. Gorgeous building too

A compact, beautifully laid out building with an interesting mix of exhibitions.... And make sure you take the elevator.