21 JANUARY – 27 JUNE 2026
LIBRARY OF BIRMINGHAM, THE GALLERY, 3RD FLOOR, B1 2ND
OPEN MONDAY – TUESDAY, 11AM–7PM, WEDNESDAY–SUNDAY, 11AM–5PM
FREE ENTRY, DONATIONS WELCOME
What are the odds? Ikon Creative Health – an exhibition at the Library of Birmingham – explores the role of art in supporting health and care systems.
Based on Ikon’s collaborative research with visual artists, academic and charity partners, What are the odds? reflects a range of lived experience from diversity in infant feeding to ageing and dying well. The exhibition’s graphic identity – designed by Birmingham-based artist Foka Wolf – plays on a 1970s ‘game of life’ TV show aesthetic, simulating a journey through the different institutions that define a life course. What are the odds? presents creative health not only as an intervention, but as a way of questioning, shaping and understanding the conditions we live in. Several artists have worked with communities to use creative methods to break down societal barriers and advocate for health justice. Co-curated by Regan McDonald, Ikon Public Health Research Officer, and Linzi Stauvers, Ikon Artistic Director (Education), What are the odds? addresses public health and social care issues with a creative and communal response.
This exhibition is supported by Art Fund’s Reimagine grants programme. Exhibition interpretation is formed in partnership and consultation with Birmingham City Council Public Health.
What are the odds? Ikon Creative Health is accompanied by a satellite display that maps Birmingham City Council’s Public Health’s ongoing strategic development of a Creative Health programme across city partners Birmingham Museums Trust, Hippodrome, Ikon and Midlands Arts Centre.