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Arty exhibits including steel trees, digital waterfalls, winding paths and sound tunnels are to feature in The Public when it opens on June 28. The long-awaited opening date of the centre in West Bromwich was announced today.

And although no images of the exhibits have been released, organisers hope the announcement will whet the appetite of potential visitors. The Public Gallery will take up a large proportion of the pink and black building, with the permanent exhibitions sitting alongside two changing exhibition spaces.

The multi-media exhibits will change shape and colour as people pass by, and hi-tech equipment given to visitors when they arrive will allow them to store images which they can use to create their own individual artwork at the end of their visit.

Marlene Smith, executive director at the Public Gallery, said: “I am delighted to confirm the scheduled opening of Public Gallery, the UK’s first truly participatory art gallery, right here in the heart of the Black Country.

“Our permanent, networked exhibits use highly sophisticated technologies to engage with audiences – visitors physically enter these artworks, and it is their presence and actions that completes them.

“Our temporary programmes provide opportunities to present yet further approaches to art and participation. On opening, all the work presented throughout the gallery will be new commissions.”

In addition to the exhibition space, there will be a new music studio which will also operate as a cinema, live music venue and performance space.

Major Key Studios, behind the studio development, also plans to run foundation degrees in sound production and music industry practice.

There will also be creative office space and event and conference spaces for business hire.

The ground floor will be open to the public, and there will be public toilets and a cafe bar. A bizarre feature enables visitors to the gallery to beam messages to people passing through the building that can be heard only by them.

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