LIVERPOOL.- Liverpool Biennial opened its 13th edition ‘BEDROCK', unveiling a series of exhibitions and outdoor artworks across the city.

‘BEDROCK’, curated by Marie-Anne McQuay, draws on Liverpool’s distinctive geography and the beliefs which underpin the city. It is inspired by the sandstone which spans the city region and is found in its imposing architecture. ‘BEDROCK’ also acts as a metaphor for the unique social foundations of Liverpool, haunted by empire, and the people, places and values that ground us.

The participating artists for Liverpool Biennial 2025 are: Alice Rekab (Ireland/Sierra Leone); Amber Akaunu (UK/Nigeria); Amy Claire Mills (Australia); Ana Navas (Venezuela/Ecuador/Netherlands); Anna Gonzalez Noguchi (Spain/Japan/UK); Antonio Jose Guzman & Iva Jankovic (Netherlands/Panama/Serbia); Cevdet Erek (Turkey); ChihChung Chang 張致中 (Taiwan/Netherlands); Christine Sun Kim (USA); DARCH (India/Somaliland/Wales); Dawit L. Petros (Eritrea/Canada/USA); Elizabeth Price (UK); Fred Wilson (USA); Hadassa Ngamba (Democratic Republic of the Congo/Belgium); Imayna Caceres (Peru/Austria); Isabel Nolan (Ireland); Jennifer Tee (Netherlands); Kara Chin (UK/Singapore); Karen Tam 譚嘉文(Canada); Katarzyna Perlak (Poland/UK); Leasho Johnson (USA/Jamaica); Linda Lamignan (Nigeria/Norway); Maria Loizidou (Cyprus); Mounira Al Solh (Lebanon); Nandan Ghiya (India); Nour Bishouty (Lebanon/Jordan/Palestine/Canada); Odur Ronald (Uganda); Petros Moris (Greece); Sheila Hicks (France/USA); Widline Cadet (Haiti/USA).

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. A dynamic programme of free
exhibitions, performances, community and learning activities, and fringe events
unfolds over 14 weeks, shining a light on the city’s vibrant cultural scene.

Marie-Anne McQuay, Curator, Liverpool Biennial 2025, said: ‘BEDROCK’ as a title for the festival extends from the physical sandstone foundations of the city to become a metaphor for its distinctive civic values, haunted by its colonial past. While responding to these contexts, I asked the invited artists to present their own ‘bedrock’; to share the values, people and places that ground them, which includes family and chosen family, ancestral cultural heritage, and environments that nurture and restore them. All of these artworks and responses are now layered across the city and I'm so delighted to welcome everyone to experience Liverpool Biennial 2025 this summer.

Works at Walker Art Gallery

The artists at Walker Art Gallery offer densely material works that interweave
practices which explore personal and colonial legacies, within an ornate building and
national collection founded on the merchant wealth of the city.

Antonio Jose Guzman & Iva Jankovic present a new work as part of their
‘Electronic Dub Station’ series, recently presented at the 60th Venice Biennale. Titled
‘Concrete Roots’, the site-specific installation examines themes of resilience,
migration, ecological consciousness and textile traditions through the duo’s
renowned use of indigo textiles and dub music soundscapes.

Leasho Johnson presents a series of densely pigmented large-scale paintings in
which he creates abstract characters that reference his own lived experience to
disrupt historical, political, stereotypical and biological expectations of the Black
queer body.

Through sculpture, photo-collage, drawing, and textiles, Nour Bishouty investigates
the impulses of tourism and sightseeing, foregrounding questions around permission
and the production of fantasy. Bishouty’s multimedia installation, which was
developed as a way to read a painting of a fictional landscape by the artist's father,
sits in conversation with works in the Walker Art Gallery collection, anchoring it in
historical and cultural memory.

Jennifer Tee exhibits collages from her ongoing ‘Tampan Tulips’ series which draw
inspiration from the colourful, geometric aesthetics of the traditional tampan textiles.
Created using dried tulip petals, these works highlight the delicate and fleeting
nature of life.

Further highlights include cast resin works of Dream Stones by Karen Tam 譚嘉文; a
new, large-scale textile and embroidery work by Katarzyna Perlak; wall-based
works by Cevdet Erek inspired by football stadia layouts; paintings and tapestries of
fictional landscapes by Isabel Nolan; and a mosaic work by Petros Moris presented
in the Sculpture Gallery.