Ale, a unique installation by local artist Pam Ginn, opened in Birmingham this week, offering viewers the opportunity to pull their own pint of real ale.

The Ale installation, the Midland Architect Design Environment (MADE), in Fazeley Street, is a ‘Project 500’ commission, a challenge set to artists and architects to work within a community to build a structure or installation with a budget of only £500.

Ale is fully interactive and was developed in conjunction with the Festival of Xtreme Building. A mixed media installation, Ale recreates the sights, sounds and smell of the brewery through yards of tubing, a traditional cask and a hand pump through which visitors can pull their own pint of real ale.

The exhibition will be lined with photography from Highgate Brewery to represent the pivotal role that the brewery would once have played at the heart of the community. Ale represents a close collaboration between Highgate Brewery in Walsall, one of the oldest Victorian tower breweries in the country, and the community of Walsall. Highgate Brewery provided consultation, materials and real ale for the project.  The ‘Friends of Highgate Brewery Association’ contributed design ideas and also physically built the Ale installation.

Following its exhibition in Walsall, Ale is moving to Birmingham for the second part of its journey.

At MADE, Ale will provide the focal point for an exhibition about the surviving public houses of Eastside, small islands of the past surrounded by a sea of regeneration and change. Once deeply rooted in community life, they act as memorials to a bygone era and form an important part of Birmingham’s evolving landscape.

Pam Ginn said: “For years, the pub was the centre of the community, a place where people gathered to socialise, to do business, to celebrate and to relax. It is important to acknowledge this important part of our heritage as our society changes and we are in danger of losing this traditional working and life experience.

"The beauty of creating Ale as part of the Festival of Xtreme Building is that I got to work closely with a brewery community, and also that the installation will be seen by so many people in the West Midlands and beyond.”

* The Ale installation will be exhibited at MADE until August 3 (12–5pm). After that, it will form part of the Campaign for Real Ale’s (CAMRA) beer and folk festivals touring the UK.