Liverpool Biennial announces new dates for 2020 festival
The postponed 2020 Liverpool Biennial will take place next spring it has been announced.
The UK’s largest festival of contemporary art was due to open this week until the coronavirus pandemic saw the country put into lockdown.
Now the Biennial, whose theme is The Stomach and the Port, will open on March 20 2021.
It will run at venues and locations across the city until June 6.
The festival programme – the 11th Liverpool Biennial - will be delivered as originally planned but in a way which is safe for artists and audiences, and organisers say it will also “be responsive to the new context” which includes the Covid-19 outbreak and the Black Lives Matter movement.
Liverpool Biennial director Fatoş Üstek said today: “It’s with excitement that we are announcing our new dates, on the day which would have been the opening of the 11th edition of Liverpool Biennial.
“In the course of the past year, we have collectively experienced seismic societal changes. The world has had to adapt to living, working and grieving through a pandemic. Lives and livelihoods have been impacted, in some cases permanently, and a world-wide recession is expected.
“Most recently in light of the largest racial justice movement of our lifetimes, we have been engaged with the urgent necessity to create equal, diverse and inclusive societies. These collective issues resonate strongly with our edition The Stomach and the Port, curated by Manuela Moscoso.”
Dozens of artists are due to take part from across the world including Italy, Canada, Jamaica, China, Estonia and Argentina as well as the UK.
The Biennial will also include the John Moores Painting Prize exhibition at the Walker Art Gallery.
Liverpool Biennial runs from March 20 to June 6 2021.