Walker Art Gallery will present Listening All Night To The Rain, a large-scale multi-channel film and sound installation by Sir John Akomfrah RA, opening 16 May 2026. Originally commissioned by the British Council for the British Pavilion at the 60th Venice Biennale in 2024, the exhibition comes to Liverpool on a UK tour supported by Art Fund.
The title is drawn from the poetry of Chinese writer Su Dongpo (1037–1101), written during a period of political exile. The work is arranged into ‘Cantos’ or movements. Walker Art Gallery is showcasing three of the eight cantos first shown in Venice. Canto I will transform the gallery’s neoclassical exterior, with imagery and voices from the Global Majority displayed on the portico. The work echoes its original presentation on the façade of the British Pavilion in Venice, where it sought to honour those marginalised by the legacies of imperialism. Inside, visitors will encounter Cantos IV and V, moving through layered soundscapes, archival footage and newly filmed material from around the world.
Akomfrah addresses memory, migration, racial injustice and climate change. His signature cinematic style creates critical and poetic connections across different places and times to encourage acts of listening and looking again, as forms of activism. He draws on stories from the Windrush generation, with a particular focus on the lives of women and children. Water runs through the work as a connecting thread, linking narratives that span continents and centuries. Sculptural installations with embedded screens, inspired by the form of religious altarpieces, sit within colour fields influenced by the paintings of Mark Rothko, creating quiet spaces for thought and reflection.
One of Britain’s most respected artist-filmmakers, Akomfrah has a long connection to Liverpool. He directed A Touch of the Tar Brush (1991) for BBC2’s Think of England, a portrait of the city’s multicultural families made in response to JB Priestley’s English Journey (1934). His documentary Riot (2000) for Channel 4 explored the turmoil in Toxteth in 1981 through the eyes of residents, police and community activists. The Unfinished Conversation (2012), tracing the life and work of cultural theorist Stuart Hall (1932–2014), premiered at Liverpool Biennial 2012. He was knighted in 2023 for services to the arts and won the Artes Mundi Prize in 2017.
Sir John Akomfrah said:
“I’ve had a long personal and professional relationship with the city of Liverpool, returning many times over the last four decades. It’s always felt to me, like an ever-unfolding
Many of the themes, stories, people and ideas within my practice draw inspiration from, or find deep resonances with, cities like Liverpool. It is a place shaped by movement, by departures and arrivals, and by stories
To bring Listening All Night To The Rain here, feels less like an arrival and more like a continuation of that conversation - one that Liverpool feels uniquely equipped to host.”
Charlotte Keenan, Head of Walker Art Gallery, said:
“We’re delighted to bring Sir John Akomfrah’s Listening All Night To The Rain to Liverpool. Its themes of migration, memory and belonging have a real connection to this city’s history, and to present work of this scale and ambition at the Walker, following its debut at the Venice Biennale, is something we’re very proud of.”
Emma Dexter, Director of Visual Arts and British Council Collection, said:
“We are proud to see Listening All Night To The Rain continue its journey in Liverpool, a city whose histories and communities resonate deeply with the themes at the heart of Sir John Akomfrah’s work. Art Fund’s support has been vital in enabling this commission to tour in the UK, and bring the installation to wider audiences.”
Following its presentation in Venice, Listening All Night To The Rain was shown at Amgueddfa Cymru – National Museum Cardiff (2025) and Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid (2025–26). After its run at Walker Art Gallery, the tour continues to Dundee Contemporary Arts later in 2026.
Listening All Night To The Rain opens at Walker Art Gallery on 16 May 2026 and runs until 31 August 2026.
Admission is free, with all donations welcome.
For more information, visit liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/