Liverpool Biennial 2023

NOW in its 25th year, the Liverpool Biennial is the UK’s largest free festival of contemporary art. Curated by Khanyisile Mbongwa, this year’s theme is uMoya — The Sacred Return of Things. In the isiZulu language, uMoya means spirit, air, breath, climate, wind — all elements representing the fleeting and transient, the elusive and intangible. 

The Biennial addresses Liverpool’s turbulent history, a city that in the 19th century was one of the world’s richest, its wealth mainly coming from slavery and exploitation.  

Thirty five artists, in 15 different indoor or outdoor venues across the city, examine colonial histories and legacies, ancestral and indigenous forms of knowledge and wisdom, and predict the possibility of a joyful future despite past and present catastrophes.