Beer and Pizza

Birmingham is blessed with a number of superb art galleries, including the Barber Institute of Fine Arts and Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery. In their permanent collections, there are many captivating pieces by well-regarded, classical artists.

In contrast, the Ikon is a contemporary gallery, which gives exhibition space to some thought-provoking modern installations. British artist, Oliver Beer, uses both film and sculpture in his work. In “Highway” [2014], Beer has arranged two highly polished sections of railway track from the SNCF station at Lyons, laying them so that they point gradually downwards and are also converging, rather than being in parallel [which, traditionally, trains have tended to prefer].

The gallery blurb says that it “stands as a memorial to lives that have sped by – an acute angle, pointing downwards to the absence that is the ultimate destination for each and every one of us.” And, on that cheery note, we went and had a pizza – and a beer.