Titled 'Beautiful world, where are you?' the 10th edition of Liverpool Biennial invited artists and audiences to reflect on a world in social, political and economic turmoil. Over 40 artists from 22 countries presented work that responds to the call. The city of Liverpool provided the setting with its public spaces, galleries, museums and civic buildings. Liverpool Biennial 2018 was curated by Kitty Scott (Carol and Morton Rapp Curator, Modern and Contemporary Art at the Art Gallery of Ontario) and Sally Tallant (Director, Liverpool Biennial) with the Biennial team.
The 10th edition of Liverpool Biennial, ‘Beautiful world, where are you?’ invites artists and audiences to reflect on a world in social, political and economic turmoil.
The title for ‘Beautiful world, where are you?’ derives from a 1788 poem by the German poet Friedrich Schiller, set to music by Austrian composer Franz Schubert in 1819. The years between the composition of Schiller’s poem and Schubert’s song saw great upheaval and profound change in Europe, from the French Revolution to the fall of the Napoleonic Empire. Today, the poem continues to reflect a world gripped by deep uncertainty. It can be seen as a lament but also as an invitation to reconsider our past, advancing a new sense of beauty that can be shared in a more equitable way.
Over 40 artists from 22 countries are presenting work that responds to the call ‘Beautiful world, where are you?’ The city of Liverpool provides the setting with its public spaces, galleries, museums and civic buildings. As an additional strand, ‘Worlds within worlds’ invites audiences to explore the rich histories and stories evoked by objects and artefacts from the city’s civic collections and architecture.
‘Beautiful world, where are you?’ is presented in locations across Liverpool including public spaces, civic buildings and the city’s leading art venues: Blackburne House, Bluecoat, FACT, Open Eye Gallery, Liverpool John Moores University’s Exhibition Research Lab, Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral, the Oratory, the Playhouse theatre, RIBA North – National Architecture Centre, St George’s Hall, Tate Liverpool, Victoria Gallery & Museum (University of Liverpool), public spaces and online
Also showing as part of Liverpool Biennial 2018 are partner exhibitions John Moores Painting Prize 2018 at the Walker Art Gallery, Bloomberg New Contemporaries 2018 at Liverpool John Moores University’s School of Art and Design, This is Shanghai and the Biennial Fringe.
In 2018, Liverpool Biennial is celebrating 20 years of presenting international art in the city and region. It is also part of Liverpool 2018, a year-long programme that proudly showcases the city’s culture and creativity a decade on from its year as European Capital of Culture.
Liverpool Biennial 2018 is curated by Kitty Scott (Carol and Morton Rapp Curator, Modern and Contemporary Art at the Art Gallery of Ontario) and Sally Tallant (Director, Liverpool Biennial) with the Liverpool Biennial team.
In this edition
Liverpool Biennial 2018: Beautiful world, where are you?
Liverpool Biennial 2018: Beautiful world, where are you? invites artists and audiences to reflect on a world in social, political and economic turmoil. Here is a glimpse of the artworks by over 40 international artists which are presented across the city’s galleries, museums and public spaces until 28 October.
Liverpool Biennial 2018 Artists in the City
See the city through the eyes of artists on their first visit to the city, from Liverpool’s historic Albert Dock and neoclassical architecture to the Biennial 2018 venues, including Tate Liverpool, Bluecoat, Open Eye Gallery and more.
Taking place between 14 July – 28 October 2018, the 10th edition of Liverpool Biennial 2018 titled Beautiful world, where are you? invites artists and audiences to reflect on a world of social, political and economic turmoil.