Key Figures in Liverpool Biennial History
The Liverpool Biennial's curatorial vision has evolved through multiple generations of cultural leadership. From founding visionaries to contemporary curators, these figures have shaped the Biennial's trajectory and its role within global contemporary art discourse.
Khanyisile Mbongwa
13th Biennial Curator (2023)
South African curator and art director Khanyisile Mbongwa represents a watershed moment in Liverpool Biennial history: the first woman and first non-European curator to direct the exhibition. Her 2023 iteration, "uMoya: The Sacred Return of Lost Things," positioned African epistemologies and frameworks at the center of a major European biennial—a significant institutional and conceptual shift.
Mbongwa's work engages postcolonial theory, spiritual frameworks, and archive-based practice. Prior to Liverpool, she served as curator at the Iziko South African National Gallery and has organized exhibitions addressing colonial legacies, African modernities, and diaspora experiences. Her approach emphasizes decolonization not as metaphor but as concrete institutional practice, requiring structural changes in how exhibitions are conceived, staffed, and accessed.
Key Themes in Her Work: Decolonization, spiritual knowledge systems, archival resistance, African futurism, institutional critique, community engagement across the African diaspora.
Lewis Biggs
Founding Director (1999–2005)
Lewis Biggs, former director of Tate Liverpool, was instrumental in conceiving and establishing the Liverpool Biennial. His foundational vision positioned contemporary art as integral to urban regeneration, social engagement, and civic identity. Biggs understood the Biennial as an "urban art laboratory," dispersing exhibitions throughout the city rather than concentrating them in a single institution.
Biggs' curatorial philosophy emphasizes art's capacity to transform public understanding and everyday experience. He emphasized international contemporary practice while maintaining commitment to local engagement, seeking artists capable of addressing Liverpool's specific historical and social conditions without reducing art to local documentation.
His legacy extends beyond the Biennial: Biggs was instrumental in establishing Tate Liverpool as a world-class institution and shaping Liverpool's cultural infrastructure during the post-industrial regeneration period. He has written extensively on public art, urban practice, and the institutional frameworks supporting contemporary art outside London.
Key Contributions: Founding vision, urban art laboratory concept, dispersed exhibition model, integration of public space, international artist recruitment, institutional infrastructure building.
Sally Tallant
Artistic Director (2005–2017)
Sally Tallant expanded the Liverpool Biennial's programmatic reach and deepened its engagement with participatory and community-based practice. Under Tallant's direction, the Biennial increasingly incorporated artist residencies, collaborative commissions, and long-term community engagement extending beyond the biennial cycle.
Tallant's background in experimental performance, social practice, and independent arts infrastructure shaped her vision of the Biennial as a year-round cultural platform rather than a discrete event. She championed emerging and international artists working at the intersection of contemporary art and social engagement, and expanded the Biennial's connections to global contemporary art networks.
Her tenure witnessed the professionalization and international recognition of the Liverpool Biennial as a significant cultural institution. Post-Liverpool, Tallant has directed Serpentine Sackler Gallery in London and organized major exhibitions at international venues, extending Liverpool's influence through her curatorial trajectory.
Key Contributions: Participatory programming, artist residencies, community engagement, year-round platform development, international artist networks, institutional sustainability.
Prominent Participating Artists
The Liverpool Biennial has attracted internationally significant contemporary artists across multiple editions. Participating artists span diverse mediums—sculpture, installation, video, performance, social practice—and bring varied approaches to contemporary practice:
Antony Gormley
Participating Artist, Founding Biennial (1999)
Gormley's "Trace" (1999) opened the first Liverpool Biennial, positioning his signature sculptural language—casting from the human body, landscape intervention, site-responsive practice—as emblematic of contemporary art's engagement with Liverpool's urban and maritime context. Gormley's work established international credibility for the Biennial from its inception.
Rasheed Araeen
Participating Artist, Multiple Editions
Pioneering postcolonial artist and theorist, Araeen has participated in multiple Biennial iterations. His practice addresses colonial modernism, non-Western art histories, and institutional critique. His presence signals the Biennial's commitment to historically marginalized artistic voices and epistemologies.
Simon Leung
Participating Artist
Leung's socially engaged practice addresses immigration, labor, diaspora, and institutional representation. His work in Liverpool engages the city's immigration histories and communities, exemplifying the Biennial's interest in art addressing local histories through global frameworks.
Mona Hatoum
Participating Artist
Palestinian-British artist whose installations and performances address displacement, mapping, and embodied experience. Her work in Liverpool engages urban space and questions of belonging—themes resonant with the city's history and contemporary demographics.
Coco Fusco
Participating Artist, Collaborator
Fusco's video, performance, and institutional critique work addresses representation, power dynamics, and intercultural practice. Her long engagement with documentary and spectacle intersects with the Biennial's interests in media, participation, and critical reflexivity.
Liverpool-Based & Northern England Artists
The Biennial has intentionally developed relationships with Liverpool-based and Northern England artists, fostering regional infrastructure and positioning the North as locus of significant contemporary practice:
Jeremy Deller
Northern England-Based Practice
While based in the Midlands/North, Deller's socially engaged projects address regional histories, community memory, and public participation. His practice aligns with the Biennial's commitment to art addressing social transformation and local engagement.
Laura Ford
Liverpool-Based Sculptor
Ford's figurative sculptural practice engages narrative, biography, and public space. Her work in Liverpool addresses the city's cultural heritage and the role of public sculpture in shaping civic identity.
Yuri Pattison
Northern England Artist
Pattison's practice examines digital culture, data, and the politics of information. His work reflects emerging concerns within contemporary art regarding technology's role in contemporary experience and power structures.
Beatrice Gibson
Artist & Filmmaker
Gibson's video and installation work addresses film theory, institutional critique, and feminist discourse. Her engagement with the Biennial extends its conversation about artistic medium and discursive practice.
Emerging Voices & Community Collaborators
The Liverpool Biennial increasingly features emerging and lesser-known artists, alongside community practitioners and socially engaged collectives. This reflects curatorial interest in horizontal models of artistic contribution and alternative knowledge systems outside traditional art world hierarchies.
Recent editions have included participatory projects with community organizations, educational institutions, and grassroots artistic collectives. These collaborations reframe artistic authorship, valuing collective intelligence and community knowledge alongside individual artistic vision. Such projects often produce ephemeral works—performances, temporary installations, social interventions—that prioritize process and participation over object production.
Model Collaborations Include:
- Community artist residencies in neighborhoods
- Student and educational institution partnerships
- Immigrant and diaspora community artistic expression
- Archive-based projects with local historical organizations
- Youth engagement and emerging practitioner mentorship
International Artist Networks
The Liverpool Biennial connects to global contemporary art infrastructure through artist exchanges, international curator networks, and partnerships with other major biennales. These connections ensure the Biennial maintains relevance within international discourse while maintaining commitment to local engagement.
Strategic partnerships with documenta, Venice Biennale participants, and international contemporary art institutions facilitate artist exchange and curatorial collaboration. The Biennial's international visibility has positioned Liverpool as destination for ambitious artistic projects, attracting artists who might not otherwise engage with regional British contexts.
Artist Support & Professional Development
Beyond exhibition programming, the Liverpool Biennial invests in professional development, grants, and infrastructure supporting contemporary art practice in the region:
- Artist Residencies: Multi-month and longer-term opportunities for artists to develop work, engage with communities, and produce new commissions
- Commissioned Work: Direct commissioning of significant new productions, providing financial support and institutional platform for ambitious projects
- Professional Networks: Facilitation of connections between artists, curators, critics, and international art world figures
- Documentation & Archive: Systematic documentation of Biennial projects creating lasting record for scholars and future practitioners
- Educational Partnerships: Collaboration with universities and art schools supporting student engagement and emerging artist development
