"Radical self-expression in Britain's most ambitious roundabout system"
BirminghamMan is an annual gathering of artists, dreamers, waterproof enthusiasts, and people who genuinely love a good Balti, held each August in the shadow of Spaghetti Junction's magnificent Grade II listed overpass system.
For one week, Car Park D is transformed into Grey Rock City — a thriving metropolis of gazebos, art installations, and at least three functioning Calor Gas stoves. We leave no trace, except the faint memory of something beautiful in an otherwise purely functional piece of 1970s infrastructure.
"It's like Burning Man but the weather is worse and the people are friendlier."
— A participant who has not been to Burning Man
Like our American cousins, BirminghamMan is guided by ten core principles. Unlike theirs, all ten can be purchased at a Spar.
Everyone is welcome in Grey Rock City. Your Nan in her plastic rainmac. The bloke who brought a generator and a speaker at 11pm. The woman from Solihull who said she was "just passing through" and stayed four days. All of you. Unconditionally.
Grey Rock City runs on unconditional generosity. Leave Cadbury Boosts by the roundabout. Offer your spare Kendal Mint Cake. Share your thermos with strangers. Do not, under any circumstances, expect anything back.
No corporate branding, no sponsored activations, no influencer partnerships. The one exception is Greggs, because that's just common sense. A pasty is not a commodity; it is a human right.
Prepare for your experience. Bring waterproofs. Then more waterproofs. Then a third pair for when the first two have failed. A spare pair of socks is your most important spiritual possession.
Express your authentic self creatively. Be aware that authentic self-expression at Car Park D may attract curious looks from the B6. This is part of the experience. The honks of approval are your applause.
Grey Rock City is made, not found. We argue collectively about the right way to erect a gazebo. We share the load of carrying camping chairs from the bus stop. The community is the art.
We take responsibility for our community and ourselves. Mind the cones. Respect the yellow lines. If an actual car needs to park, let it park. We are guests in this car park, not owners.
We leave Grey Rock City as we found it: slightly damp, smelling of diesel, but fundamentally intact. This includes your litter, your gazebo pegs, and your disappointment.
There are no spectators at BirminghamMan. Contribute something — a song, a meal, a kind word, your spare lighter. And on the final night: get involved in the Sausage Roll Burn. Don't just watch it. Feel it.
Be here now. The drizzle will pass. (It won't.) The moment you are standing in Car Park D under a multi-storey motorway interchange in August is a moment that will never come again. Treasure it. This is peak experience.
It will rain. This is not a question of if, but when, how much, and in what direction.
August in Birmingham averages 14°C. Bring a sleeping bag rated to 5°C. Pack a waterproof, a second waterproof, and the number of a good friend who lives nearby and has a sofa.
On the bright side: the overpass provides approximately 40% rain coverage. The other 60% is yours to figure out.
Take the 35 bus from Birmingham City Centre (New Street stop F). Alight at Gravelly Hill, walk five minutes north-east. You'll know you're in the right place when you can see at least three levels of motorway simultaneously.
Do not drive. The irony of driving to Spaghetti Junction to attend a countercultural event is too rich, even for this event.
Cycling is encouraged. Lock your bike to a legitimate cycle stand. Do not lock it to a support column.
The Warehouse Café (off Allison Street) does excellent veggie food. The Balti Triangle is 15 minutes by bus.
There will be a communal cooking area in Bays C4–C6. Please clean up after yourself and do not monopolise the hob.
Greggs opens at 6am. This is your sunrise ritual. Treat it with reverence.
Bring food. Lots of it. And tea bags. Especially tea bags.
Camping is on Levels 3 and 4 of Car Park D. Bring a foam sleeping mat — the concrete is not forgiving.
Tents under 2m height are permitted on Level 3. Level 4 is for hammocks and the extremely optimistic.
Maximum 2 gazebos per group. You know who you are. Yes, that is too many.
Generators are permitted until 10pm. After 10pm, acoustic instruments only. The car park closes at 11pm. Seriously.
This year's theme is "The Eternal Roadworks". Installations are in Bays B12–B19 and the ramp between Levels 2 and 3.
Do not touch the large orange cone sculpture. It will fall over. We know this because it fell over at the planning meeting.
Guided art walks at 2pm daily. Free. Please come — the artists worked really hard.
There are three portaloos in Bay A7. For 800 people. We know. We're sorry. Please queue patiently.
Nearest permanent toilets: Costcutter on the A38(M), 6-minute walk. They prefer you buy something.
Hand sanitiser stations at all art installation points. Use them freely and often.
First aid is in the converted Ford Transit, Bay B1. It is staffed by two very competent people who'd rather be at the art walk.
All times approximate. Adjust for British Summer Time, general confusion, and the likelihood that the 10am yoga session will start at 10:40.
| Day | Time | Event |
|---|---|---|
| Mon 24 Aug | All day | Arrival & Setup — Pitch your camp, meet your neighbours, argue about the gazebo. Official opening ceremony at 7pm: a brief speech, a cup of tea, and the ceremonial raising of the Grey Rock City flag (a waterproofed bedsheet). Rain likely |
| Tue 25 Aug | 10:00 | Workshop: Advanced Waterproof Selection — An expert from Blacks will guide you through the Goldilocks problem of breathable membranes. Genuinely useful. Attendance strongly recommended. Bring a waterproof to the waterproof workshop |
| Tue 25 Aug | 14:00 | Art Walk: The Eternal Roadworks — Guided tour of installations in Bays B12–B19. Bring the curiosity you usually save for understanding the M6 spaghetti maps. Arts |
| Tue 25 Aug | 20:00 | Open Mic Night — Bring an instrument, a poem, or something to say. Songs about roads, rain, and the Midlands are particularly welcome. Three-minute limit strictly enforced. |
| Wed 26 Aug | 09:30 | Sunrise Walk — Meet at the top of the Level 4 ramp for views across the motorway interchange at golden hour. "Golden hour" in Birmingham means the brief 40 minutes before the drizzle starts. Optimism required |
| Wed 26 Aug | 12:00 | Communal Lunch: Bring a Dish — Lay out what you've made on the tables in Bay C4. You're feeding strangers. They're very grateful. Communal meal |
| Wed 26 Aug | 19:00 | Talk: History of Spaghetti Junction — Gravelly Hill Interchange opened on 24 May 1972. Slides will be presented. The talk will go on slightly too long. Q&A will be genuinely interesting. History |
| Thu 27 Aug | All day | Balti Day — Pilgrimage to the Balti Triangle for the communal Thursday dinner. Book a table somewhere on Ladypool Road; they can usually accommodate groups if you call ahead. The 35 bus returns until midnight. Food trip |
| Thu 27 Aug | 23:00 | Night Walk: The Junction by Dark — See the overpass lit up at night. It is, genuinely, spectacular. Bring a torch. Do not go near the traffic lanes. This one actually needs repeating: do not go near the traffic lanes. Safety briefing at 22:45 |
| Fri 28 Aug | 10:00 | Yoga: Sunrise on Level 4 — Probably cancelled due to rain. Check the noticeboard by the portaloos for updates. If it does happen, it starts at 10:40. Check noticeboard |
| Fri 28 Aug | 14:00 | Art Creation Afternoon — Open studio time in Bays B20–B25. Bring materials. Make something. Leave it. Let someone else take it. This is gifting in three dimensions. Create |
| Fri 28 Aug | 21:00 | Dance Night — Generator-powered sound system in Bay A8. Finishes at 10pm because the car park closes at 11pm and we need time to tidy up. Sorry. We work within constraints. 10pm finish |
| Sat 29 Aug | 11:00 | Workshop: Crafting Under Difficult Conditions — How to make art when your fingers are cold and your canvas keeps blowing over. Practical exercises, real outcomes. Arts |
| Sat 29 Aug | 15:00 | Community Gathering & Retrospective — What's worked this year. What's happened. What you want to carry forward. Tea provided. Digestive biscuits provided. Tissues, if needed, provided. Tea and feelings |
| Sat 29 Aug | 20:00 | Final Art Walk — Last chance to see the installations before the burn. Some of them will not survive Sunday. Mourn them appropriately. Final viewing |
| Sun 30 Aug | All day | Leave No Trace Day — Pack down. Clean up. Help your neighbours. Find the things you forgot under the foam mat. Check the noticeboard for the lost-and-found, which is an upturned Quality Street tin on the first-aid van. Leave it how you found it |
| Mon 31 Aug | 19:00 | ⚡ THE SAUSAGE ROLL BURN ⚡ — The ceremonial climax of BirminghamMan 2026. A seven-foot sausage roll, constructed from plywood, wire mesh, and several thousand metres of crepe paper, will be ceremonially ignited in Bay D1 (the designated fire bay). Please gather, please be present, please feel something. Fire Weather permitting |
| Mon 31 Aug | 21:00 | Departure — The last bus is the 22:47 from Gravelly Hill. Do not miss it. You can check back next year. Grey Rock City will be here. It's always raining, but it's always here. Journey home |
This year's theme explores the permanent state of becoming that characterises the British road system. All works have been created by artists from Birmingham and the wider West Midlands. Come with questions. Leave with more questions.
847 traffic cones, arranged in a dense forest approximately 8m×8m. Walk through. Get lost. Find yourself. Find your way back out. The exit is on the northern side.
⚠ Do not climb the cones.
A full-scale replica of a 1970s semi-detached house, constructed from cardboard and paste, slowly dissolving in the rain throughout the week. An elegy for what was here before.
A meticulous architectural model of the proposed Birmingham Curzon Street HS2 station. It is approximately 2m long. The estimated completion date on the information board reads "2031". This will be updated during the event to reflect current estimates.
A shrine to Cadbury's, featuring photographs, wrappers, and handwritten testimonials from Brummies about their favourite discontinued product. Grief counsellors available on request (Spira enthusiasts especially welcome).
A performance installation. Six participants dig a hole, fill it in, and dig it again on a 45-minute loop for the entirety of the event. Participants rotate. Watchers bring their own existential frameworks.
The centrepiece. You cannot enter Bay D1 after Wednesday. You can look at it from the barrier. Look upon it and consider that something beautiful is made more beautiful by its ending. Or it's just a big pastry. Both readings are valid.
🔥 Burned on Monday 31 August at 19:00
No.
Yes. Car Park D, Spaghetti Junction, Birmingham B6 7JJ. We have written permission from the landowner, filed appropriate insurance, booked the portaloos, and notified the relevant council departments. We are more organised than we appear.
It will be August in Birmingham. The average temperature is 14–17°C. The average rainfall for August is 65mm. We're in a car park under a motorway, so approximately 40% of it won't reach you directly. Plan for wet feet.
Yes, but dogs must be kept on leads at all times, particularly near the Cone Forest installation and the burn area. Please bring bags. There are many bags available at the first-aid van.
Burning Man takes place in a desert. This takes place in a car park in Gravelly Hill. Burning Man has a $575 minimum ticket price. This costs £4.75 (same as a return bus fare to the city centre, which is the correct level of commitment). There are thematic similarities.
That's the cost of a return bus fare from Birmingham City Centre to Gravelly Hill. The ticket price is the journey. You could also just get the bus, look at the junction, and go home. We prefer you stay.
Car Park D will have limited spaces reserved for blue badge holders. All other attendees are asked to use public transport, cycle, or arrive on foot. The entire ethos of the event will be undermined if you drive to it solo. You know this.
We have never cancelled. The bar for cancellation is structural water ingress causing safety concerns for the Level 4 camping area. Light to heavy drizzle is simply called "the atmosphere." The Sausage Roll Burn has only been postponed once (2024, 48-hour delay due to wind). It has always burned.
The crafting workshops on Friday afternoon are family-friendly. The art walk is suitable for all ages. The open mic on Tuesday is unpredictable. The dance night is 18+. The Balti Triangle trip is strongly recommended for anyone over five.
Email [email protected] with your proposal. We have six bays remaining for 2026. We prioritise West Midlands artists. We do not pay fees but we will absolutely come and watch your thing, bring tea, and write something enthusiastic about it in the programme.
It is a seven-foot sausage roll, constructed from plywood and wire mesh wrapped in crepe paper. On the final evening, it is ceremonially ignited in the designated burn bay. It takes about 12 minutes to fully burn. It is, without irony, quite moving. Come to it.
Per Principle Two (Gifting), this is not guaranteed but has happened every year. Someone always brings them. That person is a saint and we would like to acknowledge them formally in next year's programme. If you are that person this year: please reach out.
All tickets include full access to Grey Rock City for all 8 days, all workshops, all art installations, and the Sausage Roll Burn on the final evening.