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Lockdown 3.0 may be wearing thin but there is light at the end of the tunnel, with many galleries and museums hoping to reopen in March. Here are some of the exhibitions we’re most looking forward to when restrictions lift, plus a few to check out online.
Our top pick has to be the much-delayed 11th edition of Liverpool Biennial – the UK’s oldest and largest festival of contemporary visual art – which will unfold across the city with work by more than 50 leading and emerging artists. This year’s curatorial focus explores non-Western conceptions of the body as a fluid entity without limits, opposed to a self-contained, self-sufficient unit; arguing the need to rebuild our relationship with the wider world around values of kinship and co-dependence.
The need for radical shifts in thought also lie at the heart of several other of our highlights. Among these, FACT’s Framework for Resilience will address the unfolding environmental crisis through a series of three online talks; a digital presentation of The Lives We Lead by Liverpool-based artist Kiara Mohamed will reflect upon the persistence of racism within UK society; and AI: More than Human at the World Museum Liverpool will consider what today’s rapidly evolving autonomous technology says about consciousness.
Over at BALTIC in Gateshead, we’re impatient for the explosive shapes and vibrant colours that characterise the paintings of Ad Minoliti. The Argentinian artist’s playful style combines of geometric abstraction with queer and feminist theory to generate alternative interpretations of art, life, ourselves and one another. The immersive exhibition will include a classroom-space where Minoliti will host their roaming ‘Feminist School of Painting’, with free workshops open to all abilities.
Following the initial calls for a ‘great reset’ issued in the early weeks of the pandemic, here we have a thought-provoking set of ideas around how to approach such a monumental task.
Here are our picks
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1. Liverpool Biennial 2021 – The Stomach and the Port
Ebony G. Patterson, ...a pale horse weeps in silence...for those who bear/bare witness, 2018. Courtesy the artist and Monique Meloche Gallery, Chicago Liverpool Biennial 2021, 20 March–6 June 2021, free entry - Find Out More
The 11th edition of the UK’s oldest and largest festival of contemporary visual art is about to open, with work by over 50 artists.
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2. Framework for Resilience: Online with FACT, Liverpool
Rob Battersby Framework for Resilience, online, 11–25 February 2021, free entry - Find Out More
FACT presents an online series of conversations about the natural world, centred around developing systems of mutual care and respect.
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3. POSTPONED – AI: More than Human at World Museum Liverpool
Lawrence Lek 2065 (Preview). Courtesy the artist and Sadie Coles HQ, London AI: More than Human at World Museum Liverpool, City Centre, 22 January–20 June 2021, from £5 - Book now
Barbican’s major exhibition, AI: More than Human, comes to Liverpool, offering a tantlising look into the future.
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4. Kiara Mohamed: The Lives We Lead – Online with Bluecoat, Liverpool
Kiara Mohamed, The Lives We Lead, 2020, (film still). Image courtesy of the artist. -
5. Ad Minoliti at BALTIC in Gateshead
Ad Minoliti, Abstraccion geometrico- galactica, 2019, unique eco-solvent inkjet print on canvas. Photo: Aurélien Mole/ Courtesy the artist and Crèvecoeur, Paris Ad Minoliti at Baltic, Newcastle, 1 April 2021–13 March 2022, free entry - Find Out More
Ad Minoliti’s immersive exhibition draws upon queer and feminist theory to offer new understandings of the world around us.
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6. Manchester Collective: Dark Days, Luminous Nights at The White Hotel, Salford – Postponed
Simon Buckley Dark Days, Luminous Nights - Postponed at The White Hotel, Salford, 26–30 January 2021, from £5 - Book now
A highly immersive audio-visual experience that meditates on Manchester & Salford’s changing soul via a journey along their ruined waterway.
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7. LOITER – Online
Jessica Loveday PROFORMA presents LOITER at Centre for Chinese Contemporary Art, Manchester and online, 30 January 2021, free entry - Find Out More
Proforma presents LOITER, a one-day-long live art festival that offers new perspectives on the urban environment.
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8. L– A City Through Its People at Open Eye Gallery in Liverpool
Three lads on bikes, Maud Street and Elaine Street, L8 1979. Ian Clegg, as part of Tell It Like It Is L– A City Through Its People at Open Eye Gallery in Liverpool, Waterfront, Until 7 March 2021, free entry - Visit now
Open Eye Gallery pays tribute to the proud city it calls home with three exhibitions about the people who live there.
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9. Postal Exhibition Print Programme from OUTPUT
Jon Edgley Postal Exhibition Print Programme at OUTPUT in Liverpool, City Centre, Until 1 June 2021, free entry - Visit now
OUTPUT in Liverpool launches a new programme of mail-based exhibitions, sending original artwork directly to your home.
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10. Fun & Games: Playtime, Past & Present at The Portico Library and Online
Fun & Games Playtime past & present at The Portico Library, Chinatown and online, Until 24 May 2021, free entry - Visit now
Fun & Games at The Portico Library explores the evolution and traditions of games and play throughout the ages up to today.
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11. Grayson’s Art Club at Manchester Art Gallery, Manchester
Grayson's Art Club at Manchester Art Gallery, Chinatown, Until 18 April 2021, free entry - Visit now
Turner Prize-winning artist Grayson Perry presents a major exhibition at Manchester Art Gallery featuring work made by the nation during the initial weeks of lockdown.
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12. Sean Edwards: Undo Things Done at Bluecoat in Liverpool
Installation view of Undo Things Done, 2019, Sean Edwards. © Jamie Woodley Sean Edwards 'Undo Things done' at Bluecoat, City Centre, Until 21 February 2021, free entry - Visit now
Undo Things Done, a poetic inquiry into place, politics and class intertwined with personal histories, takes as its starting point Sean Edwards’ experience of growing up on a council estate in Cardiff in the 1980s.
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13. Vision & Reality: 100 Years of Contemporary Art in Wakefield at The Hepworth Wakefield
A visitor views Come (II) by Cerith Wyn Evans, on display at The Hepworth Wakefield. Photo: Danny Lawson/PA Wire. Vision & Reality: 100 Years of Contemporary Art in Wakefield at The Hepworth Wakefield, 31 January–25 April 2021, free entry - Find Out More
100 years of contemporary art in one sitting? Feast your eyes at The Hepworth Wakefield and discover the story behind its remarkable collection.
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14. German Revolution Expressionist Prints at Lady Lever Art Gallery
In the Man's Brain, 1897, woodcut by Edvard Munch German Revolution Expressionist Prints at Lady Lever Art Gallery, Until 28 February 2021, free entry - Visit now
Schiele, Munch, Picasso, Kollwitz – Lady Lever Art Gallery’s latest exhibition brings together some of the most influential European artists and printmakers of the early 20th century.
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15. Obstructions at Castlefield Gallery & Online
Sabrina Fuller, Away (2020). Video still Obstructions at Castlefield Gallery, Castlefield, Until 7 March 2021, free entry - Visit now
Castlefield Gallery presents ‘Obstructions’ – a rather unconventional group show about the freedoms within restriction, and rules that are sometimes there to be broken.
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16. Pakui Hardware at BALTIC in Gateshead
Pakui Hardware, Underbelly, 2019. Installation view at MdbK Leipzig, Germany. Photo: Ugnius Gelguda. Courtesy the artist -
17. Multiplicities in Flux at Centre for Chinese Contemporary Art, Manchester
Eelyn Lee, still from Britishness (2019). Courtesy of the artist. Multiplicities in Flux at Centre for Chinese Contemporary Art, Manchester, Until 31 January 2021, free entry - Visit now
CFCCA presents a two-person exhibition that challenges ideas of Britishness, belonging, identity and citizenship.
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18. The Sheffield Project at Weston Park Museum, Sheffield
Anna Fox, Regeneration 1, 1988 © the artist The Sheffield Project at Weston Park Museum, Sheffield, Until 3 May 2021, free entry - Visit now
Commissioned in the mid-1980s, The Sheffield Project focused a lens on a unique chapter in the city’s history, when it embarked on a journey of radical change.
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19. Aliza Nisenbaum at Tate Liverpool
Nimo, Sumiya, and Bisharo harvesting flowers and vegetables at Hope Community Garden, 2017. Courtesy of the artist and Minneapolis Institute of Art, Minneapolis, Anton Kern Gallery, New York / Aliza Nisenbaum. Aliza Nisenbaum at Tate Liverpool, Waterfront, Until 27 June 2021, free entry - Visit now
International portrait artist Aliza Nisenbaum will present a new painting at Tate Liverpool this winter, depicting members of the city’s key workers.
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20. The Making of Husbands: Christina Ramberg in Dialogue at BALTIC in Gateshead
Christina Ramberg, Willful Excess, 1977, Copyright the Estate of Christina Ramberg, Courtesy Sammlung / Collection of Karin Tappendorf -
21. Huma Bhabha: Against Time at BALTIC, Gateshead
In the Shadow of the Sun, 2016, courtesy of the artist and Salon 94, New York -
22. White Psyche at the Whitworth in Manchester
Cupid and Psyche Scene 11, Reconciliation of Cupid and Psyche 1815 Hand block-printed wallpaper. Made in France. The Whitworth, The University of Manchester White Psyche at The Whitworth, Manchester, Until 31 January 2021, free entry - Visit now
White Psyche at the Whitworth examines the aesthetics of white supremacy through the story of Cupid and Psyche – a classical tale of love and good looks.
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23. Aid Workers: Ethics Under Fire at Imperial War Museum North
© ICRC: Hussein Baydoun AID WORKERS: ETHICS UNDER FIRE - Exhibition at Imperial War Museum North (IWM North), Manchester, Until 31 May 2021, free entry - Visit now
Aid Workers: Ethics Under Fire at Imperial War Museum North takes a close look at the moral dilemmas surrounding overseas aid.
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24. What is Manchester Art Gallery? at Manchester Art Gallery
Photography Andrew Brooks What is Manchester Art Gallery? at Manchester Art Gallery, Chinatown, Until 31 January 2023, free entry - Visit now
Manchester Art Gallery reopens with a thought-provoking new exhibition that delves into the history of the public institution and its role within the city.
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25. Don McCullin at Tate Liverpool
Don McCullin, Liverpool 8 Neighbourhood c. 1970 © Don McCullin Don McCullin at Tate Liverpool, Waterfront, Until 9 May 2021, from £11 - Book now
Tate Liverpool presents a major retrospective of work by Don McCullin, widely considered to be one of the greatest photojournalists of our time.
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The Living Planet – Online at FACT, Liverpool
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What it is to be here: Colonisation and Resistance – Online at The Portico Library
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The Gardener Digs in Another Time – Online at the Whitworth
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Life Drawing Manchester Online Classes
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Omid Asadi: Autopsy of a Home at Centre for Chinese Contemporary Art
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