Liverpool Biennial 2027 imagines The Age of Magical Thinking
Youthful imagination is the inspiration behind the 2027 Liverpool Biennial whose theme and artists are revealed today.
Titled The Age of Magical Thinking, the 14th edition of the UK's largest contemporary visual art festival will be staged at venues across the city from June 5 to September 19 next year.
The festival will feature new commissions and existing artworks from 25 artists and collectives from across the globe – including Argentina, Ghana, Kosovo and Ukraine - presented at locations including the Walker Art Gallery, Open Eye Gallery, Victoria Gallery & Museum, FACT and Liverpool Cathedral.
And a public realm artwork will be staged in Williamson Square, co-created by artist Harold Offeh and young people from Liverpool.
The 2027 Biennial is co-curated by Aimee Harrison and Lucía Sanromán.
Its title draws on the late Swiss psychologist Jean Piaget’s identification of a particular period in childhood development when the lines between reality and make-believe are blurred, and where the imagination is powerful.
Visitors will be able to consider artworks ranging from reflections on the experience of childhood and the importance of children's rights, to projects empowering young people to take centre stage or encouraging visitors to learn together through play and technology.
The 2027 participating artists are:
Ad Minoliti (Argentina), Amalia Pica (Argentina/UK), Anya Paintsil (Wales), Charmaine Poh (Singapore/Germany), Dor Guez (Jerusalem/Athens), EBB.Global (France), Elias Nafaa (Lebanon/Canada), Francis Alÿs (Belgium/Mexico), Harold Offeh (Ghana/UK), Hiroko Kubo (Japan), Immy Mali (Uganda), Iván Argote (Colombia/France), the vacuum cleaner (UK), Laakkuluk Williamson (Greenlandic Inuk/Canada), Wen Cheng Lee (Taiwan), Marilyn Boror Bor (Guatemala), Petrit Halilaj (Kosovo/Germany), Rineke Dijkstra (The Netherlands), Robert Gabris (Slovakia/Austria), Ronak & Roza Moshtaghi (Iran/Germany/Norway), Ruth Ewan (Scotland), Tania Candiani (Mexico),Yarema Malashchuk and Roman Khimei (Ukraine), Zohra Opoku (Germany/Ghana).
Above: Biennial curators Lucía Sanromán and Aimee Harrison. Photos by Yvonne Venegas and Fiona Finchett.
Harrison and Sanromán say: “The Age of Magical Thinking explores the universally shared experience of childhood and youth as a time marked by change. Childhood involves experiencing the uncertainty of the present as a transition — an invitation towards the yet-to-be. This future focus suggests a vital lens through which to view this time of global crisis.
“The exhibition brings together artists who invite immersion in the present as an antidote to our catastrophic world, and artworks that create critical alternatives, and sometimes fantastical realities, as escape routes from a dystopic future.
“Some artists reflect on their own childhood to understand the present. Others focus on the fundamental role of play in developing individual identity and collective thinking or create digital worlds to model alternative ways of being, appropriating digital technologies to their chosen ends. Engaged artists acknowledge young people as creative agents who shape their own experience.
“Artists presenting in public spaces across Liverpool reflect how young people encounter this ever-changing city.”
Liverpool Biennial runs from June 5 to September 19, 2027. More details HERE