Liverpool Biennial 2025: BEDROCK – Unearthing the City’s Soul
This year’s Liverpool Biennial (7 June – 14 September) – the 13th edition – is titled BEDROCK, and it’s all about what lies beneath: from Liverpool’s sandstone foundations to the social, cultural and ancestral roots that shape us.
Curated by Marie-Anne McQuay, BEDROCK brings together artists from around the world to explore themes like identity, memory, family, migration, belonging and the environment.
Liverpool Biennial 2025: What to Expect
- More than 35 international artists
- Free exhibitions, installations and outdoor artworks
- 14 weeks of events, workshops, talks, performances
- 20+ city-wide venues and outdoor locations
Outdoor Highlights at Liverpool Biennial 2025
- Alice Rekab’s billboard artworks at Liverpool ONE explore race, family and migration.
- Anna Gonzalez Noguchi’s playful plant-inspired sculptures at Mann Island and Berry Street.
- Isabel Nolan’s steel sculpture in St John’s Gardens reflects local stained glass designs.
- Petros Moris’ mosaics at The Oratory (Liverpool Cathedral), Walker and Bluecoat.
Exhibition Highlights by Venue
Bluecoat
- Amy Claire Mills: Sensory installation championing disability representation (in partnership with DaDa).
- Amber Akaunu: Short film on motherhood and community in Toxteth.
- Odur Ronald: Stunning display of stitched aluminium passports about African migration.
- Alice Rekab, ChihChung Chang, Petros Moris also feature.
FACT Liverpool
- Kara Chin: Apocalyptic, interactive seagull-inspired digital installation.
- DARCH: Earth-based work with Sefton residents about local connections to land.
- Linda Lamignan: Film exploring Nigeria’s oil history and ancestral knowledge.
Liverpool Cathedral
- Ana Navas: Glass collages inspired by women’s embroidery from the archives.
- Maria Loizidou: Embroidered bird tapestry reflecting migration and coexistence.
Open Eye Gallery
- Nandan Ghiya: Sculptural photography meets Hindu mythology.
- Widline Cadet: Family photography from Haiti to the US.
- Katarzyna Perlak: Queer horror film made at The Adelphi with local creatives.
Liverpool Central Library
- Dawit L. Petros: Multimedia project about a little-known Canadian-Egyptian expedition and Liverpool’s role in empire.
Pine Court, Chinatown
- Karen Tam: Multimedia reimagining of Cantonese opera and sound memory.
- ChihChung Chang: Community-created rubbing of Liverpool’s Chinese Arch.
Tate Liverpool + RIBA North
- Fred Wilson, Sheila Hicks, Christine Sun Kim, Mounira Al Solh, and more explore diasporic identity, language, memory and materials.
The Black-E
- Elizabeth Price: Powerful new film on post-war churches, architecture and trauma.
Walker Art Gallery
- Works by Antonio Jose Guzman & Iva Jankovic, Leasho Johnson, Jennifer Tee, Nour Bishouty, Karen Tam, Petros Moris and others responding to colonial histories, textiles, Queer identity and more.
20 Jordan Street (Baltic Triangle)
- Cevdet Erek: Stadium-inspired sound installation.
- Imayna Caceres: Clay-based installation inspired by local soil and hidden natural worlds.
Learning Activities at Liverpool Biennial
For families, a storybook designed with input from attendees at Liverpool Biennial’s regular family workshops at Liverpool Central Library, will help children and young people explore ‘BEDROCK’. Elsewhere, artist-led workshops, inspired by Biennial projects will happen throughout the summer holidays.
For schools and the wider community, the Liverpool Biennial Learning Programme also includes a selection of online and physical resources developed with teachers across the city to bring Liverpool Biennial 2025 to life in the classroom.
Liverpool Independents Biennial
The Independents Biennial, celebrating the art and artists living and working in Liverpool city-region, opens to the public on Saturday 7 June. The artist-led festival, which runs concurrently to Liverpool Biennial, is created to showcase the vibrant art and art scene of the city-region. Read the 10 must-see highlights at the Independents Biennial for more information.
Everything is free!
But some events may require booking – visit biennial.com for more information.
