Event type: Exhibition

Steve McQueen: Grenfell

In December 2017, artist and filmmaker Steve McQueen made an artwork in response to the fire that took place earlier that year on 14 June at Grenfell Tower in North Kensington, West London. 72 people died in the tragedy. Filming the tower before it was covered with hoarding, McQueen sought to create a record.

See Steve McQueen’s film installation Grenfell at the Bluecoat from 16 May – 21 June. Screenings of the film will take place at set times. Entry is free but you will need to book a free timed ticket via the Bluecoat’s website.

This national tour is being coordinated by Tate in collaboration with the partner venues and is made possible thanks to support using public funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council England and from Art Fund.  

Grenfell  in Liverpool is a co-production by Tate Liverpool and the Bluecoat. 

George Hallett: Home and Exile

 

Exhibition Research Lab presents George Hallett: Home and Exile an exhibition bringing together works by Cape Town-born South African photographer George Hallett (1942-2020) who lived in exile in Europe from 1970 to the mid-1990s.

Introduced to literature, music and visual arts by South African writers and visual artists, Hallett developed his practice as a self-taught street photographer in Cape Town in the 1960s. His early images depict street scenes in places such as the neighbourhood of District Six, Black communities, and cultural figures and moments that were to become a major theme throughout his career. As a South African of mixed heritage, his experience of discrimination during apartheid, and the lack of professional opportunities, led him to exile. He first settled in England in the early 1970s before moving to France and the Netherlands.

In Europe, and on visits to the United States and other parts of the world, Hallett photographed both South African exile and Black life with the intention of creating a visual record that restored dignity to a people that was either absent or misrepresented in mainstream media. Doing so, he created an incredible photographic archive of Black resistance and resilience both in the place from which he was exiled, and the places that he called home.

George Hallett: Home and Exile focuses on the first part of his exile, with a selection of photographs taken in England in the 1970s and 1980s, bearing witness to the contribution of South African exiles to British culture and society. The exhibition is articulated around three major themes: visual artists that include portraits of pioneering figures such as Gerard Sekoto, Dumile Feni and UK-based artist Gavin Jantjes; jazz musicians, among whom the famous band The Blue Notes later known as Brotherhood of Breath; and his designs for the book covers of Heinneman’s African Writers Series then led by South African-born British editor James Currey. 

The exhibition concludes with Hallett’s return to South Africa marked by his series on Nelson Mandela during his campaign for South Africa’s first democratic elections in 1994. These images earned him a World Press Photo Award for People in the News in 1995.

First presented at Clémentine de la Féronnière (Paris) in March 2025 as part of Centre Pompidou’s “Échos Paris noir” programme, this new display, in its expanded version, coincides with the 50th anniversary of the Soweto Uprising of 16 June 1976 that raised awareness on the injustice of the apartheid regime and brought international condemnation.

The accompanying public programme includes artists and curators talks, music, performances and film screenings. 

Preview event: 22 April 5 – 8pm. Book your preview ticket here

 

Curator’s Tour with Christine Eyene: Thursday 23 April, 12:00-1:00pm. Book your ticket here

Exhibition Research Lab John Lennon Art and Design Building, Duckinfield Street, Liverpool L3 5RD

For more information, visit www.exhibition-research-lab.co.uk or contact: info@exhibition-research-lab.co.uk

Opening times:Monday – Wednesday, 11:00am – 5:00pmThursday, 12:00 – 5:00pmFriday, by appointment

 

Selector: Mark Leckey Performances

Originally from the Wirral, the Turner Prize-winning artist returns to his roots in leading the curation of three nights of performances, drawing on his love of musical subcultures, sound systems, and collective experiences of sound.

The live programme features a line-up that spans national figures and local innovators across multiple genres, and the series opens at Tate Liverpool with an evening of conversation as Mark Leckey discusses the influence of music culture on his art.

Line up

Thursday 11 June: Moolakii Club Audio Interface presents – Live Soundtracks to Silent Films – Mark Leckey Special 

Moolakii Club returns with their distinctive audiovisual night blending avant-garde cinema with live experimental electronica. This event will feature Mark Leckey productions from his archives being given brand new original soundtracks live, reacting to the visuals in real time. Nothing is pre-recorded. No two nights are ever the same. The result is a shared, immersive experience – cinematic, atmospheric, and deeply engaging. Featuring VX and Sulk Rooms plus special guest.

Friday 12 June: Richie Culver (Live Set) + Mark Leckey DJ Set

“Lurking at the fringes of electronic music, artists such as Richie Culver are confronting the alienation and deprivation of the UK’s north” – The Guardian

Richie Culver is a multidisciplinary artist whose practice operates at the interstice of contemporary image culture, expanded sound, and post-documentary poetics. His work investigates the unstable architectures of memory, place, and digital subjectivity, examining how personal and collective narratives migrate across media and sediment within aesthetic form.

Saturday 13 June: SAMPLER All-Dayer Curated by Mark Leckey

“Music from the Age of Spiritual Machines”

Headlined by aya (live set) with Rainy Miller (live set), Bonnacons of Doom + more

Showcasing the best and most exciting names in emerging avant-garde music. Plus some non-musical performances as well as an exhibition opening in our Yellow Room Gallery and an immersive AV installation.

Selector: Mark Leckey Talk

Join us for an evening of conversation as Turner Prize winning artist Mark Leckey discusses the influence of music culture on his art.

Mark Leckey (born 1964) is a British contemporary artist, originally from Birkenhead. His found object art and video pieces, which incorporate themes of nostalgia and anxiety, draw on elements of pop culture. In particular, he is known for Fiorucci Made Me Hardcore 1999 and Industrial Light and Magic 2008, for which he won the 2008 Turner Prize.

This event will be hosted by DJ, curator, and multidisciplinary cultural producer Thristian, the founder of Global Roots, and co-founder of both Boiler Room and Worldwide FM.

Check out Selector: Mark Leckey performances – three nights of performances at Future Yard led by Mark Leckey.

About Selector

Selector is a collaboration between Future Yard and Tate Liverpool, centred on the connections between contemporary music and art.

Accessibility

Tate Liverpool is temporarily located at RIBA North, Mann Island, a short distance (425m) along Liverpool’s iconic waterfront. There is step free access to the main entrance. There is a lift to the first floor gallery, or alternatively you can take the stairs.

  • Toilets are located on the first floor
  • The nearest Changing Places toilet is located at the Museum of Liverpool
  • Ear defenders are available to borrow. Please ask a Visitor Engagement Assistant

Additional seating is also available. Please ask a member of staff if you require assistance.To help plan your visit to Tate Liverpool + RIBA North, have a look at our visual story. It includes photographs and information of what you can expect from a visit to the gallery.

For more information before your visit:

Email visiting.liverpool@tate.org.uk

Our Freedom: Then and Now

 

Developed by Future Arts Centres and Open Eye Gallery,  the exhibition brings together images drawn from 60 locally-led projects. Communities of all ages and backgrounds considered what freedom meant in their place in 1945, and what it means now.

To capture these stories, 22 photographers were commissioned through Open Eye Gallery, as part of their national role in the Socially Engaged Photography Network, to closely follow each project. The resulting exhibition offers a powerful visual record of the people involved – from schoolchildren and veterans to artists and participants aged 0 – 100 – reflecting the diversity and creativity at the heart of the programme.

 

Wirral Open Studio Tour

An old fire station in Port Sunlight, a room in a former New Brighton greengrocer’s and a Georgian town house in Hamilton Square are just a few of the exciting spaces visitors are invited to explore during this year’s Wirral Open Studio Tour.

Taking place over the weekend of 13-14 June 2026, the event will see more than 90 artists across the peninsula welcoming the public into their creative spaces.

Founded in 2009, this will be the 16th edition of the annual celebration of Wirral artistic talent, which is a rare opportunity to meet artists, find out more about their creative processes and even take home a piece of unique art.

The artists’ work spans a wide variety of styles, media and subjects, including painting, printmaking, ceramics, sculpture, glass, textiles, photography, woodworking and jewellery.

A free tour brochure is available online at wirralarts.com or you can pick up a printed copy at galleries, cafes, community centres and libraries in the run-up to the event.

A selection of studios are also open on Friday 12 June 6-9pm.

Pictured: Daniel Meakin in his studio.

 

Untethered

Tongue n Cheek presents their first exhibition ‘untethered’, examining the perfumed and honeydewed haze of womanhood and femininity alongside the perverse disillusioning underbelly undermining such ‘naive’ portrayals.

Please come and visit our exhibition including installations, films and paintings done by Lara Eskikaya, Megan Manning and Ruby Herd at ‘The Bakery’ in Kensington, Liverpool. 

Opening night will be on the 20th of April 2026 from 6-10pm running to the 23rd April. Enjoy baked goodies and drinks, alongside live music too!

 

 

Angel Field Festival 2026

Angel Field Festival is an exciting week-long multi-arts festival at The Capstone Theatre and Liverpool Hope University’s Creative Campus, taking place from Friday 17th April until Saturday 25th April. 

Not to be missed, expect an enthralling and diverse programme of music, art, dance, film, workshops and discussion.

Angel Field Festival presents, Built on Bach – Neil Cowley Trio, The Loose Moose String Band & The Speakeasy Bootleg Band: A Double Bill Concert, Electronic Music Triple Bill: Ian Boddy / Sulk Rooms / Field Lines Cartographer, Liverpool Hope University Musical Theatre Summer Showcase and loads more.

 

Our Freedom: Then and Now @ Atrium Exhibition

We are delighted to present Our Freedom: Then and Now, a vibrant national photography exhibition bringing together images from 60 locally led projects, marking 80 years since the end of the Second World War.

This exhibition features work from communities across the UK, exploring what freedom meant in these communities in 1945 and how those ideas resonate today. These 60 projects form a powerful nationwide portrait of people, place and belonging.

Developed by Future Arts Centres and Open Eye Gallery, the exhibition forms part of the wider Our Freedom: Then and Now programme. In total, 22 photographers collaborated with communities of all ages and backgrounds, inviting them to reflect on their own histories, experiences and identities.

The exhibition opened at the Southbank Centre in London and is now touring to 18 arts centres and libraries across the UK — from Exeter to Inverness, and Ipswich to Belfast — all of which were part of the programme.
Programme Co-Directors Annabel Turpin and Gavin Barlow said:

“This exhibition is the culmination of a major national project bringing together 60 communities with artists, arts centres and libraries. Twenty-two brilliant photographers have created a diverse and fascinating set of images reflecting these communities across the country, and it’s fitting that the exhibition opened at the nation’s largest arts centre before travelling the length and breadth of the UK.”
Our Freedom: Then and Now is delivered by Future Arts Centres in partnership with Libraries Connected and supported using public funding by the UK Government through Arts Council England. The exhibition is produced by Future Arts Centres, Open Eye Gallery and the Socially Engaged Photography Network.

We’re proud to see the communities’ story represented within this national exhibition and to welcome audiences to experience this collective reflection on freedom — then and now.

CO-LABOURING WITH SOIL EXHIBITION

CO-LABOURING WITH SOIL grew out of a collaboration between artist Imayna Caceres, Squash and Liverpool Biennial 2025. Imayna (Peru / Austria), is a transdisciplinary artist and writer interested in what we can learn from plants, animals, and other Earth beings by paying attention, caring for and living with them. After first visiting Squash in September 2024, Imayna came back in July 2025 during Liverpool Biennial for a clay workshop in the Squash garden. The sculptures made with community members were inspired by the artist’s commission Underground Flourishings (2025).

If you look closely at the different clay sculptures, you may see how the forms are also inspired by plants and flowers found on Windsor Street, as well as spontaneous conversations that took place both on the day of and leading up to the workshop. The clay sculptures will eventually erode and return to the Earth, as an offering, in keeping with the ecosystemic cycles and elemental forces that have underpinned the project and are shared interests between the artist and Squash. 

From this spring equinox (Saturday 21st March*) to autumn equinox (Wednesday 23rd September) we invite you to come and see the clay sculptures and relax in the Grapes Community Garden. If you look closely, you may see how the forms are also inspired by plants and flowers found on Windsor Street, as well as spontaneous conversations that took place both on the day of and leading up to the workshop. The clay sculptures will eventually erode and return to the Earth, as an offering, in keeping with the ecosystemic cycles and elemental forces that have underpinned the project and are shared interests between the artist and Squash. 

With special thanks to Imayna Caceres, Jackie Swanson (Squash Horticulture Lead), Clare Owens (Squash Artistic Director), Marie-Anne McQuay (Liverpool Biennial 2025 Curator), James Harper (Liverpool Biennial Programme Manager), Attila Olah (Altar Pottery), Squash gardeners and cooks, all collaborators and all the elements and teachings of Cosmos and Community.

Imayna Caceres’ 2025 project was commissioned by Liverpool Biennial and produced in collaboration with Phileas – The Austrian Office for Contemporary Art, with support from Catherine Petitgas

*Come and see the sculptures on Saturday 21st March during the Spring Treasures event. There will be a guided walk from Squash, meeting at 1pm. After this you can visit the garden during the weekly drop-in garden sessions 10.30-12.30 each Wednesday morning. The Grapes Community Garden is located on Windsor Street next door to Toxteth TV. Message admin@squashliverpool.co.uk for more information.