Courtesy Liverpool Biennial
IBA Stage: 12th Liverpool Biennial
June 28th, 2023 (Wednesday)
11am (Liverpool/GMT+1)
The 12th edition of the Liverpool Biennial just opened to the public during the past weekend by activating over twenty spaces across the whole of Merseyside, including some iconic projects of past editions. This in itself would be a reason to be excited and to look forward to hearing more about the conceptual framework developed by its curator Khanyisile Mbongwa with the title ‘uMoya: The Sacred Return of Lost Things’. In the isiZulu language, ‘uMoya’ means spirit, breath, air, climate and wind.
The festival explores the ways in which people and objects have the potential to manifest power as they move across the world, while acknowledging the continued losses of the past. It draws a line from the ongoing Catastrophes caused by colonialism towards an insistence on being truly Alive.
More than 30 international artists and collectives have been invited to engage with uMoya as a compass, divine intervention, and thoroughfare. Taking over historic buildings, unexpected spaces and art galleries, a dynamic programme of free exhibitions, performances, screenings, community events, learning activities and fringe events unfolds over 14 weeks, shining a light on the city’s vibrant cultural scene.
An artist herself, Mbongwa developed the biennial around the history and temperament of the city of Liverpool and is a call for ancestral and indigenous forms of knowledge, wisdom and healing. In her own words
“We invite visitors to surrender to the currents of uMoya, to lend themselves to its flow, allowing the artists’ work to be a compass, guiding them through the Biennial. To enter the city of Liverpool as a site where something productive can happen, as the port city opens itself up to be excavated – laying bare its history of colonialism, role in the trade of enslaved people and the making of the British Empire.
The artists unpack catastrophe by engaging with histories of extraction (people, resources, objects); they re-read cartography by engaging with histories of mapping (trade, architecture, town planning, street naming, public sculptures and monuments); and propose healing by engaging with movements of undoing violence, ‘unholding’ the suffering and centering repair work. Finally, they turn to aliveness by engaging with the human right to be alive and live.”
The participating artists for Liverpool Biennial 2023 are:
Albert Ibokwe Khoza (South Africa); Antonio Obá (Brazil); Belinda Kazeem- Kamiński (Austria); Benoît Piéron (France); Binta Diaw (Senegal/Italy); Brook Andrew (Wiradjuri/Australia); Charmaine Watkiss (UK); David Aguacheiro (Mozambique); Edgar Calel (Guatemala); Eleng Luluan (Rukai Nation/Taiwan); Fátima Rodrigo Gonzales (Peru); Francis Offman (Italy/Rwanda); Gala Porras- Kim (Colombia/USA); Guadalupe Maravilla (El Salvador/USA); Isa do Rosário (Brazil); Julien Creuzet (Martinique/France); Katy’taya Catitu Tayassu (Brazil/France); Kent Chan (Singapore/The Netherlands); Lorin Sookool (South Africa); Lubaina Himid (UK); Lungiswa Gqunta (South Africa); Melanie Manchot (Germany/UK); Nicholas Galanin (USA); Nolan Oswald Dennis (South Africa/Zambia); Pamela Phatsimo Sunstrum (Botswana/Canada/The Netherlands); Rahima Gambo (Nigeria); Rahmi Hamzi (Palestine); Raisa Kabir (UK/Bangladesh); Ranti Bam (Nigeria/UK); Rudy Loewe (UK); Sandra Suubi (Uganda); Sepideh Rahaa (Iran/Finland); Shannon Alonzo (Trinidad & Tobago); Torkwase Dyson (USA); Unmute Dance Theatre (South Africa).
For us at IBA, this also marks a big milestone of the IBA Stage as on November 4th 2021 this series began with the presentation of the previous edition of the Liverpool Biennial, with a wonderful discussion with then Curator Manuela Moscoso and Sam Lackey then newly appointed director of the Biennial.
As always IBA Stage events are meant as a moment to hear about a project through its makers and have the opportunity to participate in a Q&A session at the end of the presentation.
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