Tate Liverpool announces 2027 reopening exhibition

Tate Liverpool will open its regenerated Royal Albert Dock home in 2027 with a major retrospective by Chila Kumari Singh Burman.

It will be the first time the Bootle-born, internationally acclaimed artist has enjoyed a solo show at the waterfront gallery – and the first major retrospective of her career.

Burman, who is known for her radical feminist practice, previously exhibited at the Bluecoat in 1988 and in 2008 at Huyton Gallery.

And in 2021 she took part in the River of Light festival trail with her neon work Liverpool Love of My Life, exploring themes of identity and memory, adorning the city’s Town Hall.

Welcoming the news, Tate Liverpool director, Helen Legg, said: “Chila Kumari Singh Burman was always the artist we wanted to show on reopening, as part of a celebration of the rich culture of the North.

“She is renowned for creating irreverent pop and punk inspired works in kaleidoscopic colour, infused with glitter and neon, that draw on aspects of Indian and British cultural heritage. Her works are just as striking for their subversive treatment of gender, class and identity.”

Burman was born in Bootle in 1957 to Punjabi Hindu parents and describes herself as a ‘Punjabi Liverpudlian’. She studied at Southport College of Art and Design, Leeds Polytechnic and the Slade.

She explores her female and British-Indian identity through her vibrant work, spanning drawing, painting, printmaking, collage, photography, video and more recently neon installations.

Weaving together traditional and popular Indian culture, family memories, self-portraiture and music influences ranging from punk and reggae to Bhangra and Bollywood music, Burman’s politically-charged work has been formed in direct response to her environment.

Above: Remembering a Brave New World, Tate 2020. Top: Chila Kumari Singh Burman. Photos courtesy of Tate (Joe Humphrys)

One of her best-known pieces of art is Eat Me Now, a giant glittery ice cream cone sculpture complete with a chocolate flake which was inspired by her father who owned an ice cream van – memorable for having a big tiger on top of it.

The exhibition at Tate Liverpool will span five decades of her artistic practice.

Burman said: “I’m made up to be coming back home to Liverpool with an exhibition that spans my whole career, from the River Mersey to the Land of the Five Rivers in Punjab. It is a real honour to be reopening the gallery, and I hope the exhibition inspires a whole new generation of visitors.”

Chila Kumari Singh Burman will be curated by Tate Liverpool’s head of exhibitions and displays, Leanne Green, and curator Tamar Hemmes, and is supported by Bagri Foundation.

Tate Liverpool is currently undergoing a £29.7m ‘reimagining’ which includes a new art hall on the ground floor, while gallery spaces over a further three floors will be reorientated to give new panoramic views of the Mersey.

The Tate café is being moved to a new home on the first floor, while gas boilers will be decommissioned and the building switched to what is described as ‘an all-electric operation’.

The work was due to be completed in 2025, but it was revealed earlier this year the opening date had been pushed back to 2027.