10 Must-See Highlights of Independents Biennial 2025
The Independents Biennial, celebrating the art and artists living and working in Liverpool city-region, opens to the public on Saturday 7 June, with a special, free to attend launch on Thursday 5 June in Port Sunlight showcasing a range of art venues and artists in the historic village. The artist-led festival, which runs concurrently to Liverpool Biennial, is created to showcase the vibrant art and art scene of the city-region.
The Independents Biennial has been showcasing the work of grassroots artists since 1999 and has been known by various names including Tracey, Biennial Fringe and Liverpool Independents. It is managed by Art in Liverpool but programmed at venues and locations across the city-region by artists, artist groups, art studios and artist networks.
Here’s ten things you shouldn’t miss in the first weekend of Independents Biennial.
Ghost Art School, The Right Map
UNSTABLE, Stables Port Sunlight Village, 7 June – 14 September 2025
- In Search of Swallows and Amazons, The Old International Social Club Kensington, Sundays from 8 June
- Account Hamilton Vault Studios, 16 – 22 June 2025
- Account Not Recognised, Birch Gallery, 16 – 22 June 2025
- Slipstream, CBS, 1 – 5 July 2025
The Ghost Art School presents The Right Map — A constellation of art exhibitions across Liverpool City Region, unfolding under the banner of the Independents Biennial.
Emerging from the spirit of Ghost Art School, celebrating the artists who move between margins, who learn in the cracks, who map their own routes when none are given… Find out more.
Les Weston, Memories of Lee Park and Belle Vale. 1964-1974
Belle Vale Shopping Centre, 7 June – 14 September
Les Weston’s first solo exhibition is a personal look at the events, music, memories and the social conditions of the Tower Blocks of Lee Park during his childhood. Specifically, Churchill house, the place he lived from his 5th Birthday after moving from Lodge Lane, L8.
The installation at Belle Vale Shopping Centre, combines artworks, objects, audio, photography and archival film revealing a very personal social history of that period in his life, highlighting key milestones and happy memories experienced throughout the work.
Les invites viewers to reflect on their own memories and experiences to contribute songs and stories that shaped them as young people in the communities and places they have grown up in.
Amy Flynn, Technofossils I and II
Bombed Out Church and Port Sunlight Village, 7 June – 14 September
Technofossils are human-made objects and materials that will persist in the geological record for millions of years. The monstrous amount of stuff we make and discard is creating a distinct new layer in the Earth’s crust. Amy’s pewter cast sculptures are deliberately alluring at first glance, sparkling gemstones and shiny metal entice the viewer in.
Only on closer inspection are the contours of outdated mobile phones and plastic food containers revealed; rubbish masquerading as treasure. This journey through desire and disgust mimics the cycle of consumerism. Numerous themes of duality are at play here: artificial/organic, worthless/precious, temporary/permanent, growth/decay.
Elliss Eyo Thompson & Sticky Dub, Modern Astrology
Planet Liverpool – how the stars shaped our city, 7 June, 1-3pm, Museum of Liverpool
Explore Liverpool’s history through a cosmic lens in this bold, multi-part project that blends astrology, storytelling, and live art. Back in 1639 Toxteth born astronomer Jeremiah Horrocks, became the first person to spot the transit of Venus across the Sun – a pretty big moment in the history of astronomy. In astrology, Venus is about beauty and creativity. As part of this event, we’ll be exploring how these Venusian themes have played a role in shaping Liverpool’s identity over the centuries.
This is part one of a collaboration between the Independents Biennial and Museum of Liverpool’s Global City series. Book Tickets.
Tracing the Independents Biennial
Bluecoat, 7 June – 14 September
Independents Biennial launched as Tracey in 1999 under the umbrella of the Liverpool Biennial of contemporary art, the UK’s first such festival. Described as ‘a festival for the uninvited’, the first Independents featured artists who were not engaged in the main programme but who played a vital role in revealing the city through a dizzying range of exhibitions, interventions and performances across multiple spaces and sites.
Tracing the Independents Biennial is an opportunity for audiences to revisit our early years, and for artists to consider a future context for their work. The exhibition includes documentation, print material and other ephemera, with a particular focus on the early years, as well as some original artworks shown then. Material has been drawn from the Bluecoat’s and the Independents archives, from artists and from individual collections.
Rod Dillon, Our Lady Liverwort
Dibbinsdale Nature Reserve, Nettle Port Sunlight, from 7 June
Just a mile away from Liverpool city centre lies the last tract of ancient woodland in Merseyside: Dibbinsdale and Brotherton Park nature reserve, Wirral.
“Two years ago I revisited the Liverwort covered quarry and there it was; orange and yellow spray paint graffiti in the form of crude penis. An unknown unawareness of a violation, sprayed on top of her, the regal Liverwort. Two days later the Ranger (with concerns about modesty to the dog walkers) cut out two large squares of her containing the penis graffiti.” This project documents Rod Dillon’s attempts to nuture the nature of the Liverwort and help to restore her glorious form.
The artist-led spaces of Merseyside: Birch Studio, Bridewell Studio, Vault Studio, CBS, Hazlehurst
From 7 June
In 2021, Independents Biennial launched a special report into the health of artist studios in the Liverpool City-Region. Fighting for space, profile and funds, artist led spaces are the most vibrant corner of the grassroots art scene. Throughout this year’s Independents, the artist-led studios feature their own programme, celebrating their own artists and tenants, reflecting that while space may be becoming a premium, the ambition and determination to be a place for artists remains.
The RatShack, Catherine Street, L8
The RatShack is a truly independent space. A community utopia and converted garage in Liverpool’s georgian Quarter, the ratShack is a reminder that not all art spaces have to look the same, or come from the same narrow confines. A place for exhibition, performance, art and more, this is a brand new space that will open on 7 June.
Noel Jones and the 24 Hope Collective
Improvised Hope is a dynamic digital dance installation transforming the windows of Liverpool’s 24 Hope Street into a living canvas of movement, emotion, and collective expression. Created by artist Noel Jones and the 24 Hope Street collective, it fuses improvised choreography with generative technology to craft a ever-changing performance that captures the spirit of community and their creative spontaneity.
Claire Beerjeraz & Brigitte Jurack
Victoria Gallery & Museum, 7 June – 14 September
Two exhibitions from two independent artists. Both are Independents Biennial Commissions.
Brigitte Jurack, Rising Darkness
Brigitte Jurack presents a suite of drawings, objects, writings and the design for a new floor mosaic. Challenged by current affairs, literature, landscape and European history, the stark work engages with memories of military occupations, imperial landgrabs and land reclamations.
Claire Beerjeraz
For Independents Biennial, Claire Beerjeraz will inhabit parts of the gallery 1 space of the Victoria Gallery & Museum to examine the lasting impacts of colonialism and slavery, especially how these histories are displayed, contained, and remembered in institutional settings. Through tapestries of spoken word and clay, their work searches for the human impacts buried beneath the surface of memorials and museum walls.
Explore the full Independents Biennial programme here independentsbiennial.com/events.
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