Liverpool Biennial is the largest international contemporary art festival in the United Kingdom.
Since its launch in 1998, Liverpool Biennial has commissioned over 380 new artworks and presented work by over 530 artists from around the world. During the last 10 years, Liverpool Biennial has had an economic impact of £119.6 million. Liverpool Biennial 2014 attracted 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), 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, National Museums Liverpool, 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 as part of the Liverpool Biennial programme.
Biennials
2004
In 2004, the festival caused controversy by exhibiting a work by Yoko Ono 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's record Dancing Queen. The Walker Art Gallery mounted The Stuckists Punk Victorian, the first major show of the Stuckist artists, who had not previously been given official recognition.
Participating artists included Lara Almarcegui, Ursula Biemann, Yael Bartana, Luis Camnitzer, Paolo Canevari, Billy Childish, 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, Germaine Koh, Andreja Kuluncic, Oswaldo Macia, Jill Magid, Inigo Manglano-Ovalle, Esko Männikkö, Dorit Margreiter, Cildo Meireles, Takashi Murakami, 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, James Connelly, Tessa Farmer, Oriana Fox, Sarah Gilder, Anton Goldenstein, Mauricio Guillen, Thomas Hylander, Yvonne Jones, 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, 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
The theme and title of the Biennial's showpiece International 08 exhibition was "Made Up".