IKON Gallery Reviews

Medium-sized gallery home to sometimes thought-provoking and alternative pieces

Interesting art, great coffee and cakes from York's Cafe, cool architecture, what more could you want

Cool place runs on donation always has interesting installments in

Lovely space.
Very interesting and well worth popping in.

Cool modern art gallery with a couple of interesting exhibitions. Nice little shop selling local books and postcards too. Well worth an hour of your time.

An excellent space and lovely staff. Exhibitions are always thought-provoking and inspiring.

The lift is fun. Typical dreary modern art though it's a great building with a good cafe

Can be hit or miss with the exhibitions but it's a really cool building to go into to

Great staff and the exhibitions were really interesting.

We came across this gallery while wandering around Birmingham city centre. It was a lovely find. The staff were very friendly and I loved the exhibition by Meryl McMaster. There were plenty of interesting looking places to eat nearby. We will have to go back when we have more time...

Great children's activities over Easter especially The Storyteller

Always an inspirational place for contemporary art. Great cafe

Fab gallery. Couple of really thought provoking exhibitions. Also you must use the lift... unexpected but fun!

Love the ikon great place for me to clear my mind and be inspired

Simply the best Modern Art gallery in Birmingham within a unique setting of an old school house designed by Martin and Chamberlain.

Great exhibitions which genuinely inspire and showcase super talent. Everything from the lift to the loo's have been thought about.

Don't forget to check out the uber cool cafe to get a caffeine fix.

I like the Ikon, they usually have interesting exhibitions and it's free to enter.

I saw only one installation and I liked it weary much. And the shop, place and staff is great. Only minus, the exhibition wasn't placed in the space very good

Always enjoy take a moment of calm at IKON. Rarely anything less than inspiring. Only downside is I think it would be even better with an expanded bookshop.

Good place for a wander around the gallery or a bite to eat

Cool gallery enjoyed going there. The architecture outside and in is Well suited. The experience was good and the art work at the time of my visit was visually impacting. Two hours Max's and there is also a gift shop and restaurant.

Brilliant... visually stunning and the art can be great too.

The temporary exhibition about social networks was really astonishing!! Very great time there and a lady just explained us what this was about before let us to our thoughts!
Beautiful building too, was really nice to be there !

Nice gallery in the middle of Birmingham. Contemporary art, shop and helpful staff.

This is a special place with ever changing exhibitions. Great for a short art treat during lunch. Great cafe on site. Give generously, to support the Gallery.

Excellent place with a great curation of contemporary work. Also has many other art projects involving the local area.
I also bumped into Dr Jordan Peterson here whilst listening to his audio book, so it s go serendipity too

I visited this place this weekend. It was an interesting and beautiful place.



There are guides available at each room if you have any questions.

A long history and willing to take chances. What is there not to love?

Lovely small gallery! The exhibits change frequently so if you've been once, you can always go back as there's always something new to see! The staff that work there are brilliant. A wonderful visit which I'd definitely recommend!

Really lovely place, friendly staff, and a great cafe incorporated with the art gallery, an amazing and interesting place to walk around on 3 floors, also it is a beautiful building! Would definitely come back!

Open and accessable, strange kind of art instillation in the 'ikonic' glass lift friendly staff, varied exhibitions and always another event around the corner. A developing children's / schools offer and an interesting little book shop More

They regularly change the exhibitions here, and they are often very thought provoking and interesting.

I heard great things about this barber shop so thought I would go for a abstract trim. Though I never discovered the part that cuts your hair as its a massive building spanning three floors they did have plenty of galleries of art which I thought was strange for a barbers shop. They also had a excellent elevator that I could ride up and down in all day. Going up sounds like the ascent to the heavens of an angel. For a barber shop it sure had a good ambiance and kept very clean with no hair trimmings ob any of the floors.

The staff there where very friendly but kept giving me weird looks when I enquired where the barbers chairs where located.

Overall it was a good experience even if my absence of hair did not get the trim I was hoping.

I would give the place 9 barber signs out of 10.

The galleries are spacious and when we went, week laid out. Don't know about other exhibitions. The cafe was very good value with about interesting menu. As it is in the middle of the historic part of the city, it is worth stopping to have a look at what is on display.

Great modern art gallery never fails to challenge one's views of the world

A great way to spend an hour or so, with some interesting modern art exhibitions, a well stocked bookstore to browse through and an attached cafe that serves good food and coffee.

A great compact gallery, a short stroll away from the International Convention Centre and canal. The exhibition I saw was of works inspired by sailing and colonialism with a room devoted to black necklaces forming designs on the wall, being one stand-out exhibit. The exhibits took over three floors of an old Victorian building that has been converted in a minimalist sympathetic style. The gallery is unpretentious, free of charge to visit and I suggest takes at least an hour to appreciate all the galleries contents.

Not a huge gallery, but an interesting building across 3 floors and made me think. Not easy to find at first.

This gallery is really weird sometimes, really rewarding sometimes. They rotate the display to feature a new artist about 3 times a year so it's worth visiting once each time they do if you're local to the area.

Less traditional art gallery. Some of the exhibits can be disturbing or inaccessible to some so it's worth looking up what's there before you go.

Visit this place a couple of times a year and there's always something thought-provoking on. The staff are invariably lovely and very knowledgeable; I was waiting for someone who was going up Perrott's Folly and it was really nice to talk to the team stationed there. I love that they've acquired a York's outpost now, too - the drinks are exceptionally good and frankly a bargain.

Spacious two level art gallery with a great selection of contemporary artist and a nice shop.

Always worth popping in when passing. Exhibitions always worth seeing. Nice atmosphere. friendly staff. Interesting music playing in lift.

Icon is an internationally acclaimed contemporary art venue situated in central Birmingham. Housed in the neo-gothic
Oozells street school. It is an educational charity and works to encourage public engagement with contemporary art through exhibiting new work in a context of debate and participation. The gallery programme features artists from around the world a variety of media is represented including sounds, film, mixed media, photography, painting, sculpture and installation. Education is@the heart of
Ikon's activities Through a variety of talks tours, workshops and seminars. From the related photos we will have better enlightenement on
Ikon. Gallery.

Hidden near bham library. Its got great cafe called York's. A hidden gem

Small but nice atmosphere and unusual art display makes me come back and pop by whenever I'm around. Always can find something interesting there.

Ikon is one of the most interesting art galleries I've been to yet. I love their exhibits. They're thought provoking and culture inclusive. I come back time after time. Love the cafe downstairs too.

Staff are friendly and well informed, layout and atmosphere is sophisticated yet inviting. Brilliant!

Best gallery space birmingham has to offer. Always something fesh and different avaliable to view. Great staff and a great vibe. I always reccomend going. ALSO USE THE LIFT IT SINGS!!!!!!

Great if you like modern art instalation. Sorry, not for me

Excellent gallery although its small, it features exhibitions of international importance which are well laid out.
The coffee shop is pleasant as well, really good well made coffee, nice decor and a relaxed atmosphere. They also open earlier than the gallery.

The exterior of the building is beautiful and very photogenic.

This is more of a general comment about art UK wide...Although the Ikon is good ,Birmingham is still quite timid when it comes to contemporary art ..the West Midlands conurbation has a population approaching Paris so it should be able to support an art gallery the size of Tate Modern. With all the regeneration happening (library/grand central) hopefully this will be built in the next few years!!

Excellent gallery and staff. Very good atmosphere for children.

The only decent contemporary art gallery in the west midlands! A lovely place with regular performances and events. Don't miss the singing lift!

Great use of original building in the exciting Brindley Place. Excellent cafe with highly inventive food and to my mind brilliant espresso coffee.

They had a vocal choir record them changing tones from low to high, as you go up levels in the elevator so does the vocal choir, giving you a sort of royal welcome as you reach your destination on the elevator. Its honestly great!Something I can honestly say I would not have sought out had it not been a yelp event and I am so pleased I went. We were taken on a guided tour

Even though I have been in them situations many times and for many years of being a ikon I found my exsperiance oat the gsllary very intreagueing and can relate to it more than some who hasn't been encarsenrated

As always, my visit with our "gallery"art appreciation group was superb.
Haroon Mirza's exhibition is really interesting. Dan our expert guide gave us clear explanations making everything enjoyable and easier to understand.
Unfortunately I (we) missed the Crows because they were too subtly displayed.

Always interesting even if not always to my taste, the shop and the singing lift are always a pleasure