Event type: Exhibition

Swoop into our Learning Space to get a bird’s eye view of Tate’s collection of our feathered friends. Let your imagination take flight with your avian artistic creations.

Our Learning Space is open every day for visiting families- a space to relax and create with art games, colouring-in, books, toys and more!

Share your experience with us on social media using @tateliverpool and #TLfamilies.

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

Open Eye Gallery proudly presents No Iconic Images. Views of War, a thought-provoking exhibition examining contemporary depictions of war.

This exhibition invites audiences to reconsider the power of war photography in shaping collective memory, political narratives, and public perception. As images circulate faster than ever in a digital world, the exhibition raises pressing questions: Do we still need iconic images? How do they influence our understanding of war? And what happens when a single image defines an entire conflict?

In collaboration with The Guardian and Magnum Photos, the exhibition showcases projects by a new generation of Magnum photographers, Peter van Agtmael and Newsha Tavakolian, who offer personal insights into the wars they witnessed in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Syria.

The exhibition also delves into the editorial choices behind war photography today, with The Guardian providing a unique perspective on global conflicts, from Haiti to Myanmar. As Fiona Shields, The Guardian’s Head of Photography stated:”The geo-political nature of a conflict will often determine the priority of our reporting”, these images drives us to think about how photography shapes and influences our understanding of global crisis.

Investigative works by Forensic Architecture and the Centre for Spatial Technologies reconstruct the 2022 attack on Kyiv’s TV Tower, while artists Yarema Malashchuk and Roman Khimei challenge traditional Western aesthetics in representations of war casualties.“As the world burns and images circulate faster than ever, it examines recent wars and how they are portrayed and reflected upon through photography”. – Max Gorbatskyi and Viktoria Bavykina, exhibition curators.

Image: Raymond and his sons. Darien, Wisconsin, USA, 2007 © Peter van Agtmael / Magnum Photos

Throughout 2025, Steve des Landes is Artist in Residence at the Williamson. With a studio in our Art Room, his intention starting the residency was to work on larger-scale paintings.

He will be hosting Open Studio sessions every Friday evening, 6 – 8:30pm. Between these hours you can drop into his studio, see what he’s working on and ask any questions. No booking required, just pop into the gallery on Friday evenings.

You can also follow Steve’s progress on our social media channels

Read more about Steve des Landes’s residency

Across the country, art galleries and museums are celebrating the 250th birthday of one of Britain’s greatest painters, Joseph Mallord William Turner.

The Williamson holds a small but impressive collection of Turner watercolours, and will be bringing four onto public display. They show how he earned the moniker “Master Of Light”, and his mastery of watercolour as a medium.

These will be displayed in Gallery 4 as an intervention within Philip Wilson Steer: In Conversation. Turner was one of Steer’s idols, and this display is intended to encourage conversation and questioning around what it means to build on the style and ingenuity of Britain’s greatest landscape painter.

Subterranean Elevator has been conceived by artist Di Mainstone, and developed with a team of inter-disciplinary specialists. The installation invites intrepid visitors to explore the inner worlds of soil and the subconscious mind. On entering a dark, elevator-shaped environment, they will feel a soft earth-like substance beneath their feet, where they can stand, sit, or nestle.  As the elevator commences its ‘descent’, subterranean tourists will experience mesmerising sounds and projected visuals, creating the sensation of sinking deep into the earth.

Mainstone has coined the term “Subnosis” to describe this hypnotic journey, in which surreal subterranean creatures flourish amongst fleeting thoughts, tickled by roots and intersected by neural pathways that lead us into an interior universe. In this place of collective contemplation, we are invited to remember our connection to all living and nonliving things here on our precious planet.

The artwork aims to deepen our understanding of biodiversity loss and engage with the emotional landscape of the climate emergency.

How to Experience Subterranean Elevator

Please allow for your eye to adjust to a darker space when entering the space, moving slowly and with caution.

Shoes are to be removed before entering the sand box.

If you are entering the sand box, please use the spaces below the benches to store belongings.

There are steps at the side of the sand box to enter and exit.

Children must be supervised at all times in the space and sandbox.

Do not throw sand.

Discover the life of local legend Elizabeth Smolen, a Polish refugee who settled in Birkenhead and became a champion scooter racer and successful businesswoman.

A keen motorcyclist and engineer, Smolen made a name for herself by repairing, dealing and racing scooters and became part of Wirral’s scooter scene. Elizabeth Smolen: Trailblazer explores Smolen’s early life against the backdrop of Soviet Poland, and how her daring escape to England allowed her to make a new home in Wirral.

Objects from Smolen’s life, including two Vespa scooters, will be on display, alongside information about Smolen’s rich life, and stories from those who remember her.

The exhibition also explores the broader Wirral scooter scene, featuring photos and memorabilia from Birkenhead-based Cloud 9 Scooter Club.

Produced in collaboration with Big Heritage.

 

Digging into the land and lineage of historical sites for the past five years, collaborative artist duo, Angela Stringer and Nicky Perrin present their formative works in an exhibition which reveals the alchemical process of turning raw earth into vibrant expressions of story and place.

Harnessing natural materials such as sandstone, soil, clay and botanical matter from their local Wirral environment and beyond, they create paint and dyes to make work which transcends its origins, merging contemporary techniques with ancient traditions.

A reconstruction of the artists’ apothecary style studio will immerse visitors in their creative practice, showcasing the tools used to hand-process rock into fine pigment, before the time-honoured method of mulling it into paint.

Un/Earthed is the materialisation of journeying between the coasts of Anglesey and woodlands of Wirral. It is an exploration of identity, heritage and tales told through natural colour, reflecting on the deep connection between people and place.

EVENTS:

Film Screening: The Nettle Dress

Friday 23rd May, 6pm, £7

 

Book Now

Born in Birkenhead, Philip Wilson Steer was a pioneer of impressionism in Britain during the late nineteenth century. Studying in Paris in the 1880s, he was exposed to this radical way of painting after seeing works by the likes of Degas and Manet. With his loose approach to painting and depictions of scenes that were seen as indecent for the time, Steer was widely ridiculed on his return to London, but eventually gained acclaim and prestige with the increasing influence of the New English Art Club and his teaching post at the Slade School of Art. Later in his career, Steer was inspired by masters of English landscape painting, such as Constable and Turner, with examples of these works being found in the exhibition.

As well as showcasing the Williamson’s collection of Steer, this exhibition will bring his work into conversation with both his contemporaries and local artists who followed in his footsteps. This will showcase his personal approach to colour and painting, but will also show the limitations of his radicalism, largely through his approach to depicting women.

The Williamson’s collection of works by Steer has long been considered a highlight of our collections, which we are delighted to be able to display a significant number of in this exhibition.

 

EVENTS:

Curator talks on Albert Richards & Philip Wilson Steer – dates throughout 2025

Info & Booking

March 2025 marked 80 years since the passing of Albert Richards, the youngest official war artist to be killed in action during WWII. The Williamson holds over two hundred of his works, spanning from his days at the Wallasey School of Art to the frontlines of France in 1944. These works show the incredible talent that Richards possessed, and his influences, from surrealism to Art Deco.

As well as displaying works by artists that inspired him and worked alongside him, such as Stanley Spencer and George Jardine, this exhibition will commemorate his life as a soldier, in which he served a key role in the D-Day landings. This incredible personal narrative, mixed with his unique style of painting, makes him one of the biggest “what ifs?” in twentieth century British art.

EVENTS:

Curator talks on Albert Richards & Philip Wilson Steer – dates throughout 2025

Info & Booking

Across a series of cold winter evenings in December 2024, photographer Marge Bradshaw laced up her football boots and joined Liverpool Trans and Enby FC at their training sessions to capture players’ stories and experiences at the grassroots club.

Through documentary, portrait and alternative process photography, her approach amplifies the voices of trans and non-binary players who are typically under-represented in football narratives. By working closely with the club and with care, the exhibition positively represents LGBTQ+ footballers and aims to foster greater understanding and inclusion.

Marge Bradshaw said “I proposed working with Liverpool Trans and Enby FC as I wanted to amplify the voices of trans and non-binary footballers, who are typically under-represented in football narratives. At a time when trans people face increasing hostility and discrimination, it feels more urgent than ever to create space for their stories to be seen and heard. By closely producing this work with members of the club, we aim to positively represent LGBTQ+ footballers and foster greater understanding and inclusion.”

Whilst participants’ stories are shared through portrait and documentary photography (and text), the artist has also used alternative, sustainable photographic processes in their work.

Level Playing Field is a creative commission that responds to the 2024 project ‘Going to the Match On Tour’. Supported by The Lowry, Salford, Arts Council England, The Law Family Charitable Foundation and the Sir Bobby Charlton Foundation.

 

Read more on our blog

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About Marge Bradshaw

Marge Bradshaw is a socially engaged professional photographer and artist interested in people, place, and heritage. She uses a combination of documentary and environmental portrait photography to share the stories and lived experience of participants; typically giving a platform for voices that aren’t usually heard. Marge has worked with Open Eye Gallery Liverpool, RPS Gallery Bristol, Bolton Museum & Art Gallery, Warrington Contemporary Art Festival, HOME Manchester, Museums Northumberland, and the Science Museum London. Marge was shortlisted for the British Journal of Photography’s Portrait of Britain volume 6 and volume 7.

Marge Bradshaw Photography

 

About Liverpool Trans and Enby FC

Liverpool Trans and Enby FC is a Liverpool-based football club ran for and by the trans community. All members of the LGBTQ+ community are welcome at training.

Liverpool Trans and Enby FC

Image by Marge Bradshaw