Liverpool Biennial has launched the full programme for its 12th edition, taking place from 10 June – 17 September 2023. Titled ‘uMoya: The Sacred Return of Lost Things’, the Biennial festival is curated by Khanyisile Mbongwa with Director Dr Samantha Lackey and the Liverpool Biennial Team.
Taking over historic buildings, unexpected spaces and art galleries, Liverpool Biennial – the UK’s largest free festival of contemporary visual art – has been transforming the city through art for over two decades. Along with an installation we’ll host at Liverpool ONE, new venues and sites announced for the 12th edition include historic buildings Tobacco Warehouse and Cotton Exchange, alongside leading arts venues such as Tate Liverpool, Bluecoat, FACT Liverpool, Open Eye Gallery, Victoria Gallery and Museum and World Museum.
A dynamic programme of free exhibitions, performances, screenings, community and learning activities and fringe events unfolds over 14 weeks, shining a light on the city’s vibrant cultural scene.
This year’s focus ‘uMoya: The Sacred Return of Lost Things’ addresses the history and temperament of the city of Liverpool and is a call for ancestral and indigenous forms of knowledge, wisdom and healing. In the isiZulu language, ‘uMoya’ means spirit, breath, air, climate and wind.
At Liverpool ONE, Rudy Loewe will present a new large-scale installation inspired by the Liverpool Sailors’ Home gates and based on the artist’s painting ‘February 1970, Trinidad #1’, which depicts Moko jumbie (a stilts walker or dancer) and other Carnival participants coming to the aid of the people at a moment of Black Power revolution in Trinidad and Tobago.
More information about this year’s full artist programme can be found on the Biennial website.