Liverpool Biennial is the largest international contemporary art

festival A festival is an event celebrated by a community and centering on some characteristic aspect or aspects of that community and its religion or cultures. It is often marked as a local or national holiday, Melā, mela, or Muslim holidays, eid. A ...

in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

. Since its launch in 1998, Liverpool Biennial has commissioned over 380 new artworks and presented work by over 530

artist An artist is a person engaged in an activity related to creating art, practicing the arts, or demonstrating the work of art. The most common usage (in both everyday speech and academic discourse) refers to a practitioner in the visual arts o ...

s from around the world. During the last 10 years, Liverpool Biennial has had an economic impact of £119.6 million.

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

Biennial 2014 nearly 877,000 visits.

History

Liverpool Biennial was established by James Moores (with Jane Rankin Read, Lewis Biggs and Bryan Biggs) in 1998 and has presented festivals in 1999, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2008 (as part of Liverpool's year as

European Capital of Culture A European Capital of Culture is a city designated by the European Union (EU) for a period of one calendar year during which it organises a series of cultural events with a strong pan-European dimension. Being a European Capital of Culture can ...

), 2010, 2012, 2014, 2016 and 2018. As of 2012, Sally Tallant is the Director of Liverpool Biennial. The Biennial exhibition is supported by FACT (the Foundation for Art and Creative Technology),

Tate Liverpool Tate Liverpool is an art gallery in Liverpool, Merseyside, England, and part of Tate, along with Tate St Ives, Cornwall, Tate Britain, London, and Tate Modern, London. The gallery was an initiative of the Merseyside Development Corporatio ...

National Museums Liverpool National Museums Liverpool, formerly National Museums and Galleries on Merseyside, comprises several museums and art galleries in and around Liverpool in Merseyside, England. All the museums and galleries in the group have free admission. The mu ...

, Bluecoat, and Open Eye Gallery. The annual ''Bloomberg New Contemporaries'' Exhibition showcases new work by graduates from Fine Art schools in the UK. Since 2006, the Liverpool Biennial has included 'collateral' events organised and supported by embassies, international agencies, or galleries, and promoted by Liverpool Biennial as a part of the programme. In 2010, for the first time, the biennial offered a platform for exhibitions organised overseas and promoted under the title ''City States''. Visitors to the Biennial spent £27 million total in 2010. Liverpool Biennial has a year-round programme of commissioning art for the public realm, such as Richard Wilson's ''Turning the Place Over'' and Antony Gormley's ''Another Place'' at Crosby Beach. The organizers also promote an ongoing educational programme. The Biennial coincides with the John Moores Painting Prize, an open submission award to the best contemporary painting in the UK. The winning work and shortlisted pieces are exhibited at the

Walker Art Gallery The Walker Art Gallery is an art gallery in Liverpool, which houses one of the largest art collections in England outside London. It is part of the National Museums Liverpool group. History The Walker Art Gallery's collection dates from 1819 ...

as part of the Liverpool Biennial programme.

Biennials

2004

In 2004, the festival caused controversy by exhibiting a work by

Yoko Ono Yoko Ono (, usually spelled in katakana as ; born February 18, 1933) is a Japanese multimedia artist, singer, songwriter, and peace activist. Her work also encompasses performance art and filmmaking. Ono grew up in Tokyo and moved to New York ...

entitled ''My mummy was beautiful''. This was a series of full colour photographs of a woman's breast and crotch, which were exhibited throughout the city centre. Peter Johansson's ''Swedish red'' was a one-room house at the Pier Head painted bright red and playing

ABBA ABBA ( ) were a Swedish pop group formed in Stockholm in 1972 by Agnetha Fältskog, Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson, and Anni-Frid Lyngstad. They are one of the most popular and successful musical groups of all time, and are one of the List ...

's record " Dancing Queen". The

mounted ''

The Stuckists Punk Victorian ''The Stuckists Punk Victorian'' was the first national gallery exhibition of Stuckist art.Moss, Richard"Stuckist's Punk Victorian gatecrashes Walker's Biennial Culture24, 17 September 2004. Retrieved 3 December 2009. It was held at the Walker A ...

'', the first major show of the

Stuckist Stuckism () is an international art movement founded in 1999 by Billy Childish and Charles Thomson (artist), Charles Thomson to promote Figurative art, figurative painting as opposed to conceptual art."Stuckist's Punk Victorian gatecrashes Walker's Biennial"
Culture24, 17 September 2004. Retrieved 3 December 2009. Participating artists included Lara Almarcegui, Ursula Biemann, Yael Bartana, Luis Camnitzer, Paolo Canevari,

Billy Childish Billy Childish (born Steven John Hamper; 1 December 1959) is an English painter, author, poet, photographer, film maker, singer, and guitarist. Since the late 1970s, Childish has been prolific in creating music, writing, and visual art. He has ...

, Amanda Coogan, Marysia Lewandowska & Neil Cummings, Dias & Riedweg, Maria Eichhorn, Carl Michael von Hausswolff, Satch Hoyt, Huang Yong Ping, Sanja Ivekovic, Francesco Jodice, Peter Johansson, Yeondoo Jung,

Werner Kaligofsky Werner may refer to: People * Werner (name), origin of the name and people with this name as surname and given name Fictional characters * Werner (comics), a German comic book character * Werner Von Croy, a fictional character in the ''Tomb Ra ...

, Germaine Koh, Andreja Kuluncic, Oswaldo Macia, Jill Magid, Inigo Manglano-Ovalle, Esko Männikkö, Dorit Margreiter, Cildo Meireles,

Takashi Murakami is a Japanese contemporary artist. He works in fine arts (such as painting and sculpture) as well as commercial media (such as fashion, merchandise, and animation) and is known for blurring the line between High art, high and low arts. His wo ...

, Yoko Ono, Mathias Poledna, Marjetica Potrc, Raqs Media Collective, Navin Rawanchaikul, Martha Rosler, Santiago Sierra, Valeska Soares, Rirkrit Tiravanija, Yang Fudong, Oliver Bancroft, Thomas Bangsted, David Blandy, Margarita Bofiliou, Dave Carbone, Lali Chetwynd, Petros Chrisostomou,

Joe Clark Charles Joseph Clark (born June 5, 1939) is a Canadian businessman, writer, and retired politician who served as the 16th prime minister of Canada from 1979 to 1980. He also served as Leader of the Official Opposition (Canada), leader of the ...

, James Connelly, Tessa Farmer, Oriana Fox, Sarah Gilder, Anton Goldenstein, Mauricio Guillen, Thomas Hylander,

Yvonne Jones Yvonne Jean Jones (born March 15, 1968) is a Canadian politician in Newfoundland and Labrador, who served in the House of Commons of Canada from 2013 to 2025. She represented the district of Labrador as a member of the Liberal Party caucus. On ...

, Samson Kambalu, Ahn Kang-hyun, Karoly Kesaru, Heidi Kilpelainen, Steven Lowery, Nicky Magliulo, Gary McDonald, Sarah Michael, Thomas Needham, Robert Nichol, Jesse Richards, David Rowland, Michael Sailstorfer, Margaret Salmon, Qasim Riza Shaheen, Shen Yuan, Heiko Tiemann, Douglas White,

Lynette Yiadom-Boakye Lynette Yiadom-Boakye (born 1977) is a British painter and writer of Ghanaian heritage. She is best known for her portraits of imaginary subjects, or ones derived from found objects, which are painted in muted colours. Her work has contributed to ...

, Goang-ming Yuan.

2006

In 2006, there were five exhibition strands—International 06, International +, John Moores 24, the Independents and New Contemporaries. Participating artists included Monica Bonvicini, Mark Bradford, Matthew Buckingham, Chen Chieh-Jen, Esra Ersen, Carlos Garaicoa, Simryn Gill, Shilpa Gupta, Jeppe Hein, Oscar Melgar & Jesus Javier Jaime, Toba Khedoori, Hans-Peter Kuhn, Ken Lum, Teresa Margolles, Kelly Mark, Lee Mingwei, Priscilla Monge, Mario Navarro, Lisa Oppenheim, Philippe Parreno, Anu Pennanen, Amalia Pica, Jean-François Prost, Rigo 23, Qasim Riza Shaheen, Shimabuku, Julianne Swartz, The Kingpins, Kuang-Yu Tsui, Adriana Varejao, Humberto Velez, Matej Andraz Vogrincic, Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Jun Yang, Yang Jiechang.

2008

One Year in Liverpool - Do you feel lonely

The theme and title of the Biennial's showpiece ''International 08'' exhibition was "Made Up". Throughout 2008 as part of Liverpool's year as

, new commissions for the public realm included ''Winter Lights'' (a series of neon lights by international artists, such as Frank Scurti and Michael Pinsky, in collaboration with local communities), ''Visible Virals'' ( interventionist artworks in public spaces and buildings in the city), and a series of ''Pavilions'' (creating spaces for cultural activity in local communities). Again there was also the John Moores Painting Prize (No. 25), the New Contemporaries and The Independents. Participating artists included

Ai Weiwei Ai Weiwei ( ; , IPA: ; born 28 August 1957) is a Chinese contemporary artist, documentarian, and activist. Ai grew up in the far northwest of China, where he lived under harsh conditions due to his father's exile. As an activist, he has been ...

, David Altmejd, Atelier Bow-Wow, Guy Ben-Ner, Manfredi Beninati, David Blandy, U-Ram Choe, Adam Cvijanovic, Nancy Davenport,

Diller Scofidio + Renfro Diller has several uses including: People with the surname *Barry Diller (born 1942), American businessman *Burgoyne Diller (1906–1965), American abstract painter * Dwight Diller (1946–2023), American musician * Karl Diller (born 1941), Germ ...

, Leandro Erlich, Omer Fast,

Adrian Ghenie Adrian Ghenie (; born 13 August 1977 in Baia Mare) is a Contemporary art, contemporary Romanian painter, who lives and works in Berlin, Germany. Early life and education The son of a dentist, he attended the Gheorghe Șincai National College (B ...

, Rodney Graham, Tue Greenfort, Teresa Hubbard / Alexander Birchler, Alison Jackson, Jesper Just, Otto Karvonen,

Yayoi Kusama is a Japanese contemporary artist who works primarily in sculpture and Installation art, installation, and she is also active in painting, performance art, performance, video art, Fashion design, fashion, poetry, fiction, and other arts. Her wo ...

, Ulf Langheinrich (Granular-Synthesis), Luisa Lambri, Gabriel Lester,

Annette Messager Annette Messager (born 30 November 1943) is a French visual artist. She is known for championing the techniques and materials of outsider art. In 2005, she won the Golden Lion Award at the Venice Biennale for her artwork at the French pavilion, F ...

, Tracey Moffatt, Yoko Ono, Ged Quinn, Khalil Rabah, The Royal Art Lodge, Sarah Sze, Tomas Saraceno, Richard Woods.

2010

The 6th biennial in Liverpool was launched with a one night exhibition by Filip Gilissen on 14 May 2010 and ran from 18 September 2010 to 28 November 2010. It contained six programmes of contemporary art including: Bloomberg New Contemporaries, City States, John Moores Painting Prize 2010, S.Q.U.A.T. Liverpool 2010, and The Cooperative. Displays included works by Alfredo Jaar,

Do-Ho Suh Do Ho Suh (; born 1962) is a South Korean artist who works primarily in sculpture, Installation art, installation, and drawing. Suh is well known for re-creating architectural structures and objects using fabric in what the artist describes as an ...

and the first UK presentation of any work by Tehching Hsieh. The visitor centre was located in the former Rapid Hardware shop on Renshaw Street. Participating artists included Sachiko Abe, Alfredo & Isabel Aquilizan, Laura Belem, Emese Benczur, Daniel Bozhkov, Nina Canell, Danica Dakic,

Song Dong Song Dong (, born 1966) is a Chinese contemporary artist, active in sculpture, Installation art, installations, performance, photography and video. He has been involved in many solo and group exhibitions around the world, covering a range of them ...

, Wannes Goetschalckx, NS Harsha, Diango Hernandez, Nicholas Hlobo, Jamie Isenstein, Alfredo Jaar, Eva Kotatkova, Will Kwan, Lars Laumann, Antii Laitinen, Minouk Lim, Cristina Lucas, Tala Madani, Yves Netzhammer,

Raymond Pettibon Raymond Pettibon (born Raymond Ginn, June 16, 1957) is an American artist who lives and works in New York City. Pettibon came to prominence in the early 1980s in the southern California punk rock scene, creating posters and album art mainly for g ...

, Ranjani Shettar,

, Franz West, Hector Zamora, Tehching Hsieh, Carlos Martiel, Kris Martin, Otto Muehl, Carol Rama, Ryan Trecartin,

Magdalena Abakanowicz Magdalena Abakanowicz (; 20 June 1930 – 20 April 2017) was a Polish sculpture, sculptor and fiber artist. Known for her use of textiles as a sculptural medium and for outdoor installations, Abakanowicz has been considered among the most influen ...

, Aimé Mpane, Oren Eliav, Tim Eitel, Edi Hila, Y.Z. Kami, Zbynek Sedlecky, Minerva Cuevas, Meschac Gaba, Clegg & Guttmann, Daniel Knorr, Lee Mingwei, Rob Pruitt, Anton Vidokle / Julieta Aranda, Tania Bruguera, Carlos Amorales. Liverpool Biennial 2010 was curated by Lorenzo Fusi, Artistic Director in collaboration with: Frances Loeffler and Raj Sandhu.

2012

For its 7th edition, Liverpool Biennial explored the theme of hospitality, inviting artists and thinkers to bring forth new understandings for our increasingly globalised and complex times. The biennial exhibition, ''The Unexpected Guest'', comprised 62 international artists, and the Cunard Building was used as a venue for the first time. The programme included: ''Sky Arts Ignition Series'', in partnership with

, a public commission by US artist,

Doug Aitken Doug Aitken (born 1968) is an American multidisciplinary artist. Aitken's body of work ranges from photography, print media, sculpture, and architectural interventions, to narrative films, sound, single and multi-channel video works, installatio ...

, installed on Albert Dock in a temporary structure designed by

David Adjaye Sir David Frank Adjaye (born 22 September 1966) is a Ghanaian-British architect who has designed many notable buildings around the world, including the National Museum of African American History, National Museum of African American History and ...

; American composer Rhys Chatham, known for his large-scale performance works presented a concert as part of the opening weekend; one of Argentina's most established and internationally renowned artists, Jorge Macchi, presented ''Refraction'' in the LJMU Copperas Hill Building; Israeli artist, Oded Hirsch presented ''Lift'' a work which appeared to burst through the floor of Liverpool ONE - Liverpool's retail destination. Artists who were part of ''The Unexpected Guest'' included Doug Aitken with David Adjaye, John Akomfrah, Hurvin Anderson,

Janine Antoni Janine Antoni (born January 19, 1964) is a Bahamian–born American artist, who creates contemporary work in performance art, sculpture, and photography. Antoni's work focuses on process and the transitions between the making and finished product, ...

, Keith Arnatt, Kader Attia, Yael Bartana, Sylvie Blocher,

Andrea Bowers Andrea Bowers (born 1965), is an American artist working in a variety of media including video, drawing, and installation. Her work has been exhibited around the world, including museums and galleries in Germany, Greece, and Tokyo. Her work wa ...

, Sophie Calle, Rhys Chatham, Libia Castro and Ólafur Ólafsson, Enrico David, Eugenio Dittborn, Elmgreen and Dragset, Peter Fischli & David Weiss, FormContent, Dora Garcia,

Gilbert and George Gilbert Prousch, sometimes referred to as Gilbert Proesch (born 17 September 1943), and George Passmore (born 8 January 1942) are artists who work together as the collaborative art duo Gilbert & George. They are known for their formal appearance ...

, Simryn Gill,

Mona Hatoum Mona Hatoum (; born 1952) is a Palestinians, British-Palestinian multimedia and installation artist who lives in London. Biography Mona Hatoum was born in 1952 in Beirut, Lebanon, to State of Palestine, Palestinian parents. Although born in Leba ...

, Fritz Haeg, Oded Hirsch, Thomas Hirschhorn, Nadia Kaabi Linke, Markus Kahre, William Kentridge, Anja Kirschner and David Panos, Jakob Kolding, Jiri Kovanda, Suzanne Lacy, Runo Lagomarsino, Jorge Macchi, Dane Mitchell, Sabelo Mlangeni, Mark Morrisroe, Patrick Murphy, Ahmet Ögüt, Field Operations, Trevor Paglen, Christodoulos Panayiotou, Martin Parr, Pedro Reyes,

Rhizome In botany and dendrology, a rhizome ( ) is a modified subterranean plant stem that sends out roots and Shoot (botany), shoots from its Node (botany), nodes. Rhizomes are also called creeping rootstalks or just rootstalks. Rhizomes develop from ...

, Pamela Rosenkranz, George Shaw, Pak Sheung Chuen, Patrick Waterhouse, Mikhael Subotzky, Superflex, Sinta Tantra,

Althea Thauberger Althea Thauberger (born 1970, Saskatoon, Canada) is a Canadian visual artist, film maker and educator. Her work engages relational practices rooted in sustained collaborations with groups or communities through social, theatrical and textual proce ...

, Mark Titchner, Jeanne van Heeswijk,

Mark Wallinger Mark Wallinger (born 25 May 1959) is an English artist. Having previously been nominated for the Turner Prize in 1995, he won in 2007 for his installation '' State Britain''. His work ''Ecce Homo'' (1999–2000) was the first piece to occupy th ...

, Jemima Wyman, Ming Wong, Kohei Yoshiyuki and Akram Zaatari Liverpool Biennial 2012 was curated by Sally Tallant, Artistic Director; ''The Unexpected Guest'' by: Lorenzo Fusi, Curator, Liverpool Biennial in collaboration with: Sara-Jayne Parsons, the Bluecoat; Mike Stubbs and Omar Kholeif,

FACT A fact is a truth, true data, datum about one or more aspects of a circumstance. Standard reference works are often used to Fact-checking, check facts. Science, Scientific facts are verified by repeatable careful observation or measurement by ...

; Karen Newman, Open Eye Gallery; Sook-Kyung Lee,

and Jenny Porter, Metal Liverpool.

2014

The 8th biennial, ''A Needle Walks into a Haystack'', opened on 5 July 2014 and ran until 26 October 2014. Artists that exhibited as part of ''A Needle Walks into a Haystack'' include: Uri Aran, Marc Bauer, Bonnie Camplin, Jef Cornelis, Carlos Cruz-Diez, Chris Evans, Rana Hamadeh, Louise Hervé & Chloé Maillet, Judith Hopf, Aaron Flint Jamison, Norma Jeane, Nicola L., Sharon Lockhart, William Leavitt,

James McNeill Whistler James Abbott McNeill Whistler (; July 10, 1834July 17, 1903) was an American painter in oils and watercolor, and printmaker, active during the American Gilded Age and based primarily in the United Kingdom. He eschewed sentimentality and moral a ...

Michael Nyman Michael Laurence Nyman, Order of the British Empire, CBE (born 23 March 1944) is an English composer, pianist, libretto, librettist, musicologist, and filmmaker. He is known for numerous film soundtrack, scores (many written during his lengthy ...

, Claude Parent, Christina Ramberg, Michael Stevenson, Josef Strau, Stefan Tcherepnin, Peter Wächtler and Amelie von Wulffen. Liverpool Biennial 2014 was curated by Mai Abu ElDahab and Anthony Huberman. 16 artists' works were shown in The Old Blind School on Hardman St. There were two external works by Carlos Cruz-Diez, including a Dazzle Ship.

2016

The ninth edition of Liverpool Biennial ran from 9 July 2016 to 16 October 2016. 44 international artists were commissioned to create new works for locations across the city. The artists were:

Lawrence Abu Hamdan Lawrence Abu Hamdan (born 1985, Amman) is a contemporary artist based in Dubai. His work looks into the political effects of listening, using various kinds of audio to explore its effects on human rights and law. Because of his work with sound, ...

, Andreas Angelidakis, Alisa Baremboym, Lucy Beech, Sarah Browne and Jesse Jones, Mariana Castillo Deball, Yin-Ju Chen, Ian Cheng, Marvin Gaye Chetwynd, Céline Condorelli, Audrey Cottin, Koenraad Dedobbeleer, Jason Dodge, Lara Favaretto, Danielle Freakley, Coco Fusco, Fabien Giraud and Raphaël Siboni, Hato, Ana Jotta, Samson Kambalu, Oliver Laric, Mark Leckey, Adam Linder, Marcos Lutyens, Jumana Manna, Rita McBride, Dennis McNulty, Elena Narbutaite, Lu Pingyuan, Michael Portnoy, Sahej Rahal, Ramin Haerizadeh, Rokni Haerizadeh & Hesam Rahmanian ( Ramin, Rokni, Hesam), Koki Tanaka, Suzanne Treister, Villa Design Group, Krzysztof Wodiczko, Betty Woodman, and Arseny Zhilyaev. In 2016, Liverpool Biennial also presented an exhibition of works by ten Associate Artists, based in the North of England: Simeon Barclay, Jacqueline Bebb, Lindsey Bull, Robert Carter & Lauren Velvick, Nina Chua, Matthew Crawley, Frances Disley, Daniel Fogarty, Harry Meadley, and Stephen Sheehan. The Liverpool Biennial 2016 exhibition was conceived as a series of 'episodes' drawing inspiration from Liverpool's past, present and future, named as ''Ancient Greece'', ''Chinatown'', ''The Children’s Episode'', ''Monuments from the Future'', ''Flashback'', and ''Software''. Among the locations for Liverpool Biennial 2016 were the Cains Brewery on Stanhope Street, the former ABC Cinema on Lime Street, the Oratory, Toxteth Reservoir, streets, squares, restaurants, a supermarket, and all the key visual art venues in the city including Tate Liverpool, FACT, Open Eye Gallery and Bluecoat. Also presented during the 2016 Biennial are the John Moores Painting Prize 2016 at Walker Art Gallery, Bloomberg New Contemporaries 2016 at Bluecoat, and the Biennial Fringe. Liverpool Biennial 2016 was curated by Sally Tallant, Dominic Willsdon, Francesco Manacorda, Raimundas Malasauskas, Joasia Krysa, Rosie Cooper, Polly Brannan, Francesca Bertolotti-Bailey, Ying Tan, Sandeep Parmar, and Steven Cairns.

2018

The 2018 Biennial ran from 14 July to 28 October 2018 and was called ''Beautiful world, where are you?''. Artists included Ryan Gander, Suki Seokyeong Kang, and Melanie Smith.

2021

The 11th biennial curated by Manuela Moscoso and titled ''The Stomach and the Port'' ran from 20 March to 6 June 2021 in Liverpool and online. Artists include Linder, Judy Chicago, Ithell Colquhoun, Ines Doujak, Nicholas Hlobo,

Jutta Koether Jutta Koether (born 1958) is a German artist, musician and critic based in New York City and Berlin
Dun ...

, Ebony G. Patterson, Anu Põder, and Martine Syms.

2023

The 12th edition of Liverpool Biennial, ''uMoya: The sacred Return of Lost Things'', ran from 10 June to 17 September 2023. The Biennial addressed the history and temperament of the city of Liverpool and was a call for ancestral and indigenous forms of knowledge, wisdom and healing. Liverpool Biennial 2023 was curated by Khanyisile Mbongwa.

2025

Liverpool Biennial 2025, titled 'Bedrock', draws on Liverpool's geography and the beliefs which underpin the city's social foundations, acting as a metaphor for the people, places and values that ground all of us. It is inspired by the sandstone which spans the city region and is found in its distinctive architecture. The 13th edition is curated by Marie-Anne McQuay and takes place from 7 June to 14 September 2025.

References

External links

* {{Coord, 53.409, -2.981, display=title Art biennials British biennial events Contemporary art exhibitions Cultural organisations based in Liverpool English contemporary art Events in Liverpool Festivals in Liverpool 1999 establishments in England