Liverpool Biennial has revealed the title and artists for its 14th edition. It is called The Age of Magical Thinking. Aimee Harrison and Lucía Sanromán curate. The festival runs from 5 June to 19 September 2027.
The title comes from the psychologist Jean Piaget. He identified a stage in childhood when the line between reality and make-believe blurs. The imagination is strong then. Tomorrow feels full of promise, and magical thinking can help build new worlds.
Twenty-five artists and collectives will fill the city’s galleries and public spaces. Some works reflect on childhood experiences and the importance of children’s rights. Others treat young people as experts in their own lives, and invite visitors to learn alongside them through play and technology. Across Liverpool, the art will look at the tangled past, the uncertain present and the questions we owe the future.
The list is international. It includes Ad Minoliti, Amalia Pica, Anya Paintsil, Charmaine Poh, Dor Guez, EBB. Global, Elias Nafaa, Francis Alÿs, Harold Offeh and Hiroko Kubo. Also named are Immy Mali, Iván Argote, the vacuum cleaner, Laakkuluk Williamson, Wen Cheng Lee, Marilyn Boror Bor, Petrit Halilaj and Rineke Dijkstra. The rest are Robert Gabris, Ronak and Roza Moshtaghi, Ruth Ewan, Tania Candiani, Yarema Malashchuk with Roman Khimei, and Zohra Opoku. They come from Argentina, Wales, Singapore, Lebanon, Japan, Uganda, Greenland, Taiwan, Guatemala, Kosovo, Iran, Ukraine and beyond.
One project is already taking shape in Williamson Square. Harold Offeh is co-creating a public artwork there with local young people. Together they will fill the space with events and activities through summer 2027. Arts Council England National Lottery Project Grants back it. Partners include the European Children’s Rights Unit, the University of Liverpool’s School of Law and Social Justice, Merseyside Youth Association and PLACED.
Sanromán says her interest lies in socially engaged and participatory art. A Biennial built on the views of children and young people, she says, gave her and Harrison a way to face a deeply uncertain political moment. She sees childhood as a time of constant change and possibility, and as one that demands urgent questions. The show, she adds, answers young people’s loud calls to be taken seriously in political decisions.
Harrison started her own career working with young people. She has long wanted to gather artists around a stage of life we have all shared. Children, she says, offer hope, honesty and a hunger for justice. The Williamson Square work reminds her why their perspective matters to cultural spaces and creative practice.
Director Sam Lackey says the artists reflect on childhood, its complexity, and its differences. He thanks the core funders, Arts Council England, Liverpool City Council and Liverpool Accommodation BID.
Liverpool Biennial is the UK’s largest free festival of contemporary art. It has spent more than twenty years working in galleries, historic buildings and unexpected places. Free events through the summer include performances, parties, and community and learning activities.
Partner venues include Bluecoat, the Exhibition Research Lab at Liverpool John Moores University, FACT Liverpool, Open Eye Gallery, the Victoria Gallery and Museum, and the Walker Art Gallery. Liverpool Cathedral returns as a site. More venues will be announced in spring 2027.