Liverpool Biennial 2025 – BEDROCK

The most exciting event in the North’s art calendar is back! Liverpool Biennial 2025 returns in June for 14 weeks, with a brand new theme and a whole host of fantastic artists. Taking over most of the designated art venues and popping up in some unexpected locations around Liverpool, the UK’s oldest art festival is surely one to mark in your diary.

Curated by Marie-Anne McQuay, the theme for the 13th edition of Liverpool Biennial is ‘BEDROCK’. While last year’s edition highlighted ancestral knowledge, wisdom and healing, this year the festival focuses on themes closer to home. Liverpool’s distinctive geography takes centre stage and will act as a starting point for many of the works: in literal terms, this refers to the sandstone which spans the city region and is present in a lot of the local architecture., while more conceptually ‘bedrock’ also relates to the social foundations of the city and those personal to the artists, with family, cultural heritage and generational issues all being addressed through the works.

The festival will feature 30 artists and collectives from around the world, including Mounira Al Solh, Katarzyna Perlak and Sheila Hicks.

Liverpool Biennial works in partnership with local organisations including First Take and At the Library, alongside longstanding partners at Tate Liverpool, National Museums Liverpool, FACT, Bluecoat and Open Eye Gallery. Check back in the new year for more information on the exhibitions, workshops, talks and other festival events – as always, it’s shaping up to be a very exciting offering, filled with fresh ideas and thought-provoking artworks.