A PROGRAMME of outdoor events will bring the city centre alive this summer.

‘Summer in the Square’ will bring art installations and performances to Guildhall Square in the build-up to the opening of what is being billed as the ‘jewel in Southampton’s crown’.

Including a temporary pavilion built especially to showcase performances, a giant yellow ‘huddlehood’ by Irish artist Rhona Byrne and artwork installed on Above Bar, the programme has been designed to “invite interaction, dialogue and playfulness.”

But critics say the programme - which has been put together in the face of the delayed opening of the £25million Studio 144 - should have been put in place earlier.

Leader of Southampton Conservatives Councillor Jeremy Moulton said: “It’s good that something is now finally happening but it should be something that’s ongoing - it’s the Cultural Quarter, not just the theatre and gallery.The vision was that there would be ongoing performances and acts and visual arts - that was the initial plan. Now it’s a year late.”

Director of the John Hansard Gallery, Woodrow Kernohan, said: “It will be a flavour of what is to come when the gallery opens in the Cultural Quarter later this year. The projects by David Batchelor, Markus Bergström, Rhona Byrne and with the Istanbul Biennial, will directly engage with our diverse new audiences and the public realm around Studio 144.”

He added that when it opens later this year the John Hansard, which is moving from its current site at Southampton University, will house three dedicated galleries and four multipurpose spaces designed to highlight the gallery’s “pioneering projects” with a final exhibition programme set to be announced over the summer.

Rhona Byrne’s Huddlehood in Guildhall Square will be active from July 21.

David Batchelor’s Flags will be installed on 17 Above Bar lamppost banner sites from August 4

Markus Bergstrom’s pavilion will go up in the first week of August with a programme yet to be finalised. Istanbul Biennial ‘a good neighbour’ will be installed in the first week of August on Studio 144 windows of both John Hansard Gallery and Nuffield Southampton Theatres.