From a vital exploration of missing histories and a celebration of Ozzy Osbourne’s legacy to Japanese ceramics and South Asian water histories, discover the best exhibitions you can see in and around Birmingham.
Mike Allison brings his 100 Views of Birmingham project to nook in Kings Heath throughout April. The collection is a celebration of the city, observing how light, weather and the seasons are reflected in Birmingham’s diverse buildings and spaces.
The project began in 2015 and takes inspiration from Utagawa Hiroshige’s 100 Views of Edo from the 1850s, with its fresh and unusual compositions shaping Mike’s own way of seeing the city. Working across engraving, linocut and monotype, Mike builds beautifully complex, multi-layered prints that reward slow looking.
Artist Christopher Samuel explores themes of stigma, belonging and agency in a new exhibition about stories missing from history at Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery.
Through nine newly recorded interviews for the city of Birmingham’s collection, Watch Us Lead highlights the experiences of disabled people of colour in Birmingham, particularly Black individuals, combining these stories with stained glass and drawings by Christopher that reflect significant moments in the lives of the individuals featured.
The Bothy is a permanent outdoor installation set in the Minerva Apothecary Garden on the Grand Union Canalside, and is part of Whittle’s long-term artist project with Grand Union titled Congregation: Creating Dangerously.
Created by British-Barbadian artist Alberta Whittle, along with Birmingham-based women’s organisations and MJM Bespoke, the structure is modelled on a traditional Scottish both, which provides temporary, free shelter for anyone to use, and is intended as a place for people to rest and take in views of the sky and surrounding land.
Responding to a government report suggesting that loneliness and isolation were increasing in rural areas of the UK, acclaimed photographer Clare Hewitt presents new work that celebrates trees and their remarkable ability to nurture and communicate.
Hewitt documented the forest and its seasonal changes by setting up a studio within a circle of twelve oak trees, exploring nature and the forest through a range of sustainable photography techniques.
Founded in 1880, The Lapworth Museum of Geology is one of the oldest geological museums in the UK.
Housed in the Edwardian Grade II listed Aston Webb Building at the University of Birmingham, the institution houses collections dedicated to everything from dinosaurs and volcanoes to diamonds and fossils, offering a fascinating insight into how life began and changed through time.
Extended on more than one occasion due to overwhelming demand, Ozzy Osbourne: Working Class Hero showcases the solo achievements and global awards of the rock icon, as well as the album art of the original Black Sabbath lineup.
The free-to-enter exhibition showcases Ozzy’s most prestigious international honours – including Grammy Awards, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame accolades, MTV awards, Hollywood Walk of Fame and Birmingham Walk of Stars honours and a selection of his platinum and gold discs which recognise millions of record sales around the world.
Whether you’re a calligraphy fanatic or more of a fairweather fan, the Pen Museum is a somewhat unlikely but fun afternoon out for all ages.
During the Victorian era, making steel pen nibs was a major industry, with 129 companies employing 8,000 workers across Birmingham. Throughout the museum, you’ll find a wide variety of objects that tell the story of the city’s pen trade, with a range of interactive activities along the way, including writing with quills and ink, using graphology to analyse your handwriting and even the opportunity to make your own nib.
Handle With Care explores the city’s art collection from its beginnings in 1887 right through to the present day. It explores collections management, the loans programme and exhibition making and spotlights how the collection is used, developed, conserved and cared for.
Daiga Grantina represented Latvia at the 2019 Venice Biennale and now lives and works in Paris. Lilacs marks her first solo exhibition in a UK art gallery.
Grantina’s sculptures explore how materials meet and react to each other, prompting us to look again at their size, form and meaning. These interactions echo the ways that living systems and environments evolve – shifting, growing and unfolding across multiple dimensions.
A stunning, large-scale illuminated sculpture of the sun by acclaimed British artist Luke Jerram will go on display at The Exchange in Birmingham this spring.
The University of Birmingham announced that it had permanently acquired Helios, and that it would be displayed for free from March to November 2026.
Using high-resolution (72dpi) photographic solar imagery, the sculpture reveals the astonishing details of the Sun’s surface, from swirling sunspots to dramatic solar flares, all illuminated from within to cast a golden glow across the Banking Hall.
Ikon presents Break the Mould, the final exhibition in a trilogy exploring craft, art school pedagogies and contemporary art practice. This show focuses on ceramics, positioning clay as a site of experimentation.
Break the Mould transforms the gallery into a laboratory for residencies, collaborative making and public engagement. Throughout the exhibition, visitors will see artists at work and take part in activities that bring the process of making to life.
Break the Mould brings together leading ceramicists and contemporary artists who challenge traditional boundaries of craft.
- Words:
- Bradley Lengden
- Published on:
- Mon 13 Apr 2026
A new exhibition responding to Cervantes’ Don Quixote de la Mancha comes to Birmingham this April.
Tilting at Windmills runs at The Courtyard Gallery in Solihull from Wed 8 Apr – Sat 25 Apr. Initially inspired by the marvellous engravings of Gustav Doré in an illustrated edition of the famous book, Tom Ranahan has invited thirteen other artists to join him on a visual adventure in response to Cervantes’ masterpiece.