Liverpool Biennial Announces Opening Party

The Opening Party offers an opportunity to celebrate the opening of Liverpool Biennial 2023 and anticipate an exciting summer at the UK’s largest free festival of contemporary art. The event will bring together international artists, local creatives, and the wider Liverpool community to acknowledge the work that has gone into producing the festival so far and embrace everything still to come.

With an electric selection of live music and performances programmed by Africa Oyé, the Opening Party provides a space for release, celebration, and dance. The line-up includes SNO, KOF and Papu Raf.

Launching the evening’s celebrations and displaying her encyclopaedic knowledge of African music , SNO is a South African born, Manchester based DJ with a record collection that defies genre specification. KOF is a Liverpool born, London raised genre-blending Singer, Rapper and Producer, possessing a tone referred to as “silk laced with pain and passion”. Culminating the evening will be the frenetic sounds of Papu Raf, offering selections hovering between Afro-house and Amapiano and guaranteed to bring high energy to the dancefloor.

The 12th edition of Liverpool Biennial ‘uMoya: The Sacred Return of Lost Things’ addresses the history and temperament of the city of Liverpool and is a call for ancestral and indigenous forms of knowledge, wisdom and healing. In the isiZulu language, ‘uMoya’ means spirit, breath, air, climate and wind.

More than 30 international artists and collectives have been invited to engage with ‘uMoya’ as a compass, divine intervention, and thoroughfare. Taking over historic buildings, unexpected spaces and art galleries, a dynamic programme of free exhibitions, performances, screenings, community events, learning activities and fringe events unfolds over 14 weeks, shining a light on the city’s vibrant cultural scene. Liverpool Biennial 2023 is curated by Khanyisile Mbongwa.