Liverpool Biennial to return for ninth year this summer

The contemporary art festival, Liverpool Biennial, will open for 14 weeks from Saturday 9th July to Sunday 16th October.

The free festival will be organised as a story narrated in several episodes across the city, including fictional worlds displayed in galleries, museums, pubs, unused spaces, stations, hotels, parking lots, shops and supermarkets.

Many of the episodes will take inspiration from Liverpool’s present, past and future.

The Chinatown arch will be reimagined as a portal through time and space, connecting Chinatowns from around the world, and an imaginary version of Ancient Greece will be set amongst Liverpool’s famous neoclassical buildings.

37 artists have so far been confirmed to participate, including Birkenhead-born Mark Lecky and international artists Alisa Baremboym, Mariana Castillio Deball and Samson Kambalu.

Each artist will create new works for the Biennial, which will be showcased at a series of locations in the city. Some of Liverpool’s leading at venues, such as Tate Liverpool, FACT, Bluecoat and Open Eye, will be used.

Also showing during Liverpool Biennial will be the John Moores Painting Prize at the Walker Art Gallery. The event, which runs from the start of the festival until 27th November, is the country’s longest established painting prize for artists working with the medium of paint.

A selection of shortlisted works will be displayed in the exhibition to highlight those at the forefront of contemporary art.

The Liverpool Biennial was founded in 1998 and since then has commissioned 268 new artworks and presented work by over 400 artists from across the globe.

For more information visit www.biennial.com.

Photo credit: Liverpool Biennial. Pete Carr.