Exhibition - Uncover Liverpool

Squash’s Harvest Auction Fundraiser

This year at Squash we’re celebrating our 10th annual Harvest Auction Fundraiser! Come slong for a magical eve of comedy and fun, win some locally grown and made harvest delights, and help raise funds for communities close to our heart, including:

Squash’s own ‘Soup It Forward’ initiative, making sure neughbours in need can eat free in the Squash cafe, especially going into the colder months
local charity Habibti Liverpool who support the medical staff and children at Al Sabeen Hospital in Sanaa, Yemen
the African Caribbean Centre, a thiriving L8 hub, empowering a healthy, connected community
the Union of Agricultural Work Committees, a Palestinian non-governmental organisation dedicated to supporting farmers and promoting sustainable agricultural practices. Following the attack on the Local Palestine Seed Bank on July 31st this year by Isreali forces, twinned organisation Exeter Seed Bank are fundraising to help restore and protect remaining seed sources in Palestine.

If you can’t make the auction but would like to donate please do so here.

Growers and Cooks! Have you grown something you’re really proud of this year? Or made an amazing jam? Donations of home or allotment-grown fruit & veg and preserves, ferments, or other delicious homemade seasonal treats can be dropped off at Squash on Saturday 13th, Wednesday 17th, Thursday 18th, Friday 19th between 10am and 4pm.

Harvest Competition! The catagories for our annual harvest produce competition are:

-BEST WONKY FRUIT OR VEG

-BEST SQUASH/ PUMPKIN

-BEST PRESERVE (jam/ chutney/relish/ferment- entries require a whole jar and a sample for judges)

-BEST DRESSED AT THE HARVEST AUCTION (get your best Autumn kecks on!)

-BEST IN SHOW

If you would like to enter, please note this on the Auction Lot Entry form when you drop off your goods

For more info or to donate an auction lot email clare@squashliverpool.co.uk or call 01517077897

Lightbulb moments

This autumn, the University of Liverpool’s Victoria Gallery & Museum (VG&M) is set to illuminate with the opening of Lightbulb moments, an exhibition that explores the origins of some of Liverpool’s greatest ideas.

Opening on Thursday 11 September 2025 and running through to autumn 2027, the exciting free exhibition will be held in the Tate Hall Museum—located within the VG&M —as it reopens after 5 years closure due to roof restoration and the pandemic.

Great ideas can occur in many places—on a walk, in the shower, or even in bed —and many of them come from Liverpool. This exhibition explores the origins of some of the city’s most remarkable discoveries, innovations, and insights, and invites visitors to reflect on what makes ideas possible in the first place.

Drawing from the rich collections of the University of Liverpool and The National Archives, Lightbulb moments displays 150 objects – from archaeological finds and scientific tools to puzzles and literature. Highlights include teaching materials for Esperanto, the universal language invented by L. Zamenhof in 1887 to promote international peace; a pair of wooden globes – terrestrial (1833) and celestial (1799) – that chart explorers’ routes and mythic constellations while prompting reflection on Britain’s role in global history; and a re-creation of Bagatelle Nouvelle, an 1847 indoor game revived by local primary school children using original trade designs from The National Archives.

Researchers from across the University of Liverpool also play a key role in the exhibition, sharing their own moments of discovery. From history, music, and archaeology to chemistry and medical science, every faculty at the University brings its own lightbulb moment to the story. Highlights include Professor Andrew Weeks‘ creation of the Postpartum Haemorrhage Butterfly—first prototyped at home using a potato masher and LEGO and now a medical device that could save many lives worldwide. Also, Dr Ariel Camp’s breakthrough in biomechanics is also celebrated, which revealed how fish bend their spines and heads upward, reshaping our understanding of animal evolution and influencing robotics.

More than a traditional display, Lightbulb moments is a vibrant celebration of curiosity and creativity—inviting visitors to explore how great ideas take shape and inspiring them to discover their own.

Steve Slack, Lightbulb moments’ curator said: “Throughout history, Liverpool has been a hub of innovation, and this exhibition celebrates the city’s role in fostering great ideas. By weaving together historical and contemporary contributions from Liverpool’s thinkers, creators and visionaries, Lightbulb moments aims to inspire the next generation of innovators. The exhibition reinforces that anyone—from scientists and artists to students and museum visitors—can experience a moment of insight that changes the world.“As the Tate Hall Museum reopens its doors, Lightbulb moments invites visitors to step inside, be inspired and perhaps even experience their own flashes of brilliance. After all, there’s no better place to have a great idea than in a museum.”

Dr Matt Greenhall, Director of Libraries, Museums and Galleries, University of Liverpool, added: “The reopening of Tate Hall Museum is a momentous occasion. After five years of careful building restoration, it will be wonderful to see this historic space welcoming visitors once again. Lightbulb moments is the perfect exhibition to mark this new chapter, celebrating both the University and the city as a hub of innovation and great ideas.“The exhibition features unique objects and documents from the University’s significant heritage and cultural collections, alongside the work of our academics, students and city partners. As we developed the exhibition, we worked closely with our local community—and we’re excited to continue welcoming them into a space designed to spark curiosity, creativity, and conversation. We look forward to Tate Hall Museum being a space where great ideas are showcased, shared, and created!”

Steve Burgess, Head of Exhibitions at The National Archives: “I’m really excited to see Lightbulb moments and delighted that it was inspired by Spirit of Invention. We’re all happy here that we had a small part to play in your opening exhibition. I’m sure it will be very popular.”

VG&M and Lightbulb moments are free to visit, with an accompanying public programme of events and activities designed to engage and inspire visitors of all ages. Visit vgm.liverpool.ac.uk/whats-on/exhibitions/lightbulb-moments

John Moores Painting Prize 2025

One of the UK’s most prestigious contemporary painting exhibitions returns to the Walker Art Gallery in September 2025.

Supporting artists from all over the UK – whether they’re undiscovered, emerging or established in their careers – the Prize provides a platform for artists to inspire, disrupt and challenge the British painting scene today. Showcasing the very latest in painting across the UK, the competition culminates in a major exhibition every two years in Liverpool.

First held in 1957, the competition was named after its founding sponsor Sir John Moores. The prize is open to all artists working with paint, who are aged 18 years or over and live or are professionally based in the UK.

Past prizewinners have included Peter Doig, Rose Wylie, David Hockney, Mary Martin and Sir Peter Blake, who became the first patron of the John Moores Painting Prize in 2011, after winning the Junior section of John Moores 3 with his painting ‘Self Portrait with Badges’ in 1961.

The winner of the Prize is also awarded a solo exhibition at the Walker Art Gallery the following year. The 2023 Prizewinner was Graham Crowley with his painting ‘Light Industry’. His subsequent exhibition – Graham Crowley: I paint shadows – was on display at the Walker until 13 July 2025.

Just Browsing

Just Browsing is a group exhibition that allows audiences to browse tactile works of art. The exhibition borrows from the retail area around Bluecoat’s gallery to offer an experience of art that can be touched, worn and bought to take home. Artists in the exhibition use textiles, ceramics, and scent to connect with audiences in a variety of ways.

The exhibition features works and products from artists Bruce Asbestos, Ffion Evans, Garth Gratrix, Ivy Kalungi, Lou Miller, Sufea Mohamad Noor, Lewis Prosser, Ben Saunders, Daniel Sean Kelly, Chester Tenneson, and Carla Wright.

This exhibition is part of our season Felt, which features a programme of exhibitions and events that allow audiences to go beyond looking, but also to touch, wear, hold, and take part, and experience art in new, hands-on ways.

Lou Miller: We Dream of Our Freedom

Manchester-based artist and activist Lou Miller has collaborated with children from St Vincent de Paul Catholic Primary School in L1 to explore their vision of freedom. The resulting exhibition transforms the voices of the children, aged 8-11, into a series of textile banners, clay, and print works for adults and children alike. Miller’s practice has a strong collaborative focus, exploring themes of community, work, health, and social change. For We Dream of Our Freedom, the gallery will become a community studio, inviting audiences to share their own ideas of freedom and respond to the children’s vision.

We Dream of Our Freedom is part of Our Freedom: Then and Now, a UK-wide, locally-led arts and creative programme from Future Arts Centres, which is producing 60 new pieces of work reflecting on what ‘Our Freedom’ means to local people and their communities, following the 80th anniversary of VE/VJ Day.

The themes of the project resonate deeply with the Bluecoat’s own history. Not only was the building severely damaged during the Blitz, but for the last 100 years as an arts centre, the Bluecoat has championed creativity, and the freedom for artists, and everyone, to express themselves freely through their art.

Helen Anna Flanagan ‘Burnt Toast’ & Gavin Gayagoy ‘Doomscroll_1’

This exhibition brings together two artists exploring the complexities of human existence in the modern world. Through their artworks, Helen Anna Flanagan and Gavin Gayagoy navigate experiences of alienation through societal neglect and digital isolation. Both works were created during artist residencies at FACT and developed in Studio/Lab, our dedicated space for nurturing and supporting artistic practice.

Burnt Toast is a contemporary ghost story by Helen Anna Flanagan. The film resurrects legendary British comedian Tommy Cooper, who famously died mid-performance in 1984. Combining machine learning, analogue technologies, archival materials and a trained impersonator, the film follows a failed magician trapped in his decaying home. Unemployed and struggling with mental health and social isolation, he recites memories and anecdotes haunted by the past. Through his story, Helen asks us to question how hidden structures —such as class, culture and capitalism— can shape our lives, control our actions, and leave us feeling alienated.

Read the film transcription here – Burnt Toast (2025) Transcript.

Gavin Gayagoy’s work, Doomscroll_1, explores our relationship with smartphones, focusing on the sensation of ‘doom-scrolling’ – compulsively consuming digital content, often to the detriment of mental health. Doom-scrolling often leaves people feeling trapped in an endless loop as they mindlessly switch between apps, losing track of time. Gavin utilises game design to examine how digital environments impact our emotions and, ultimately, our understanding of ourselves. His work addresses the paradox of being online – that it holds the potential to thrill and fear, offering freedom while also holding us back.

Our homes are full of ghosts – from our memories to digital presences that haunt us from our screens, drawing us into their spectral worlds and slowly building a sense of disconnection from those physically around us. In this exhibition, both artists use the domestic setting as a way to think about the technologies, social conditions and societal structures that create this strange loneliness in being connected.

Feature Image: Gavin Gayagoy, Doomscroll_1 (2025). Photograph, courtesy the artist.

Latin American Artist Exhibition: La Feria

Presented as part of La Feria 2025, this exhibition showcases powerful and original works from Latin American artists based across the UK. Hosted in the elegant surroundings of the Stable Gallery at St George’s Hall, the exhibition is a unique opportunity to explore a broad spectrum of Latinx identity and creative expression.Featuring a diverse mix of mediums and approaches, highlighting the innovative and multifaceted nature of Latin American visual storytelling. With artists of heritage from across the Latin American continent, the exhibition reveals the multiplicity of lived experience within LatinX communities in the UK.

The Tree of Authenticity

Nestled in Africa’s largest rainforest lies one of the many graves of the West’s efforts to control nations and nature – one of the world’s largest tropical agricultural research centres. Located on the banks of the Congo River, the Yangambi INERA Research Station was a booming scientific centre in its heyday. Today, it is a mix of jungle and ruin, where questions of knowledge, power over it, and access to it linger.

The Tree of Authenticity is a film by Tate collection artist Sammy Baloji. It recounts the story of two scientists, Paul Panda Farnana and Abiron Beirnaert, who worked at Yangambi between 1910 and 1950. Through their voices, the film looks at how colonialism harmed both people and the environment, and how that damage is still felt today.

Please note that this film screening is at FACT Liverpool.

Doors open at 17.00. The screening starts promptly at 17.30 and will be followed by a Q&A with the artist.

Biography

Artist Sammy Baloji (b. 1978, Lubumbashi, DR Congo) lives and works between Lubumbashi and Brussels. Since 2005 he has been exploring the memory and history of the Democratic Republic of Congo. His work is an ongoing investigation into the cultural, architectural and industrial heritage of the Katanga region, as well as questioning the impact of Belgian colonisation. His critical view of contemporary societies serves as a warning of the ways in which cultural clichés continue to shape collective memory, allowing social and political power games to continue to dictate human behaviour.

Film details

Spoken languages: French, Dutch

Subtitles: English

Length: 89 minutes

Completion: February 2025

Congo-Liverpool Routes Project

This event is part of a research and engagement project called Congo-Liverpool Routes developed through a collaboration between Tate Liverpool and the International Slavery Museum. The project engaged with museum collections and archival material that attest to the historical and present-day connections between Congo and Liverpool. It was developed with Congolese communities in Liverpool in rethinking the legacies of past exploitation while imagining roadmaps for different futures.

In the Window: Meet the Maker – Corinne Price

The Bluecoat Display Centre and Liverpool Irish Festival are delighted to announce our 2025 maker: Corinne Price; continuing our annual In The Window partnership. This event provides visitors with the chance to speak with the artist directly, about their work, general practice, ambitions and achievements. Centred on Corinne’s ceramics, which layer pigment into the clay itself, visitors will benefit from a guided question and answer session, being able to ask additional questions. Refreshments will be provided on arrival.

Friends of the Bluecoat Display Centre will receive a 10% discount on all purchases during the event.

Booking is needed. Please call +44(0) 151 709 4014, to book a place, or stop by the gallery to reserve a space with a member of staff. This event has a recommended donation price of £10 per ticket, providing a speaker fee for Corinne. See our exhibition listing for more details about Corinne.

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Review at the Rathbone: Private view

A private view to open a new show: Review at the Rathbone. Visitors can speak to the artists and meet the makers.

In 2024 Liverpool Irish Festival recruited several artists to work with citizen groups across Merseyside to create art works responding to Liverpool Irish Famine Trail sites. The resulting work can be seen in our app, but this exhibit provides an opportunity to see the original art works close-up, with some works on show for the very first time.

The Rathbone family – William IV (b.1757-d.1809), William VI (b.1819-d.1902) and Eleanor (b.1872-d.1946) especially – were key figures in the abolition of slavery, nursing and Ireland’s land league, harking back to their Irish connections. Being in an eponymously named gallery feels fitting.

Event type: Exhibition