Birmingham’s artsy bits walking tour

A new city centre walking tour looks at the public art you can experience all around as you walk the city. It is a fun and informative tour which runs on Saturday mornings from July.

The tour starts at Grand Central concourse above New Street Station, convenient for those coming in from the Birmingham suburbs or from other cities such as London. The tour considers both historical and very  modern art installations including the brand new installation, Forward Together, by Luke  Perry in Victoria Square and many other pieces installed in recent years.

Public art requires interpretation and is often intentionally controversial. Open debate  is encouraged on tour. Where public art is in disrepair or not being looked after, we ask some serious questions. Where sculptures from those who are now huge on the world stage languish in store we ask why. Where plinths are installed but no sculpture has returned we explore the idea that seemingly benign art is now more controversial as our industrial heritage is reinterpreted in the light of the Black Lives Matters campaign.

Speaking about the walking tour,  Jonathan Berg says: “I have been photographing this stuff for over 30 years and have seen it come…. and seen it go. We have public art on our streets from some amazing artists. This is going to be such a fun tour to do which we hope will add to the things to do in the city centre.”

For further information and tickets see  the Positively Birmingham walking tour website (www.positivelybirmingham.co.uk).