Event type: Exhibition

THE MISSION IS THE END, THE END IS ALL I WANT! reflects on the patterns and cycles that shape our experience of the world.

Different systems—whether political, digital, or architectural—determine how we perceive and interact with the world. In the gallery, sculptures appear as though smashed into each other. Artefacts with their own history and identity collide, creating new objects that offer reflections of this pressure and force. A new film work follows a cast of fantastical characters as they explore the tension between following, resisting, and choosing their own paths.

The work questions whether a utopia can ever be neutral: whose future are we imagining when we build idealised digital spaces? Drawing from video game mechanics and digital aesthetics, Bassam builds environments that feel immersive but tightly controlled—worlds we can explore, but not quite alter. Through this lens, he explores how hidden ideas and beliefs can seep into worldbuilding: from dangerous ideologies to the fake, polished lifestyles sold through social media. The installation and sculptures create a space that feels like it is shifting and collapsing around us, pulling us in.

Rather than offering answers or closure, THE MISSION IS THE END, THE END IS ALL I WANT! creates space for reflection. It asks us to look again at the world we live in, and the future we hope for. In a time marked by collapse and contradiction, the imagined world becomes a place to face hard truths and rethink what is possible – where fantasy becomes a tool for survival, not escape.

Nina Davies blends fiction and non-fiction in her work to help us see the world in new ways. For this project, she worked with Eve, Luke, and Mel, three young people from the Liverpool City Region who the Teenage and Young Adult Unit at The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre NHS Foundation Trust. Over the past year, they have created an artwork based on their experiences of living with and beyond cancer. 

The group came together to imagine a fictional podcast and film, inspired by the complexities and confusion of going through cancer treatment. They shared stories of their experiences: one recalled returning after surgery to find someone else in their hospital bed. What once felt private and personal had suddenly become someone else’s. This constant shifting of space, ownership and privacy became the spark for a speculative story about what comes with being a patient. 

A digital twin used by architects when designing The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre to virtually replicate, record and monitor real-time data became the focus for the group’s creative sci-fi storytelling. Nina, Eve, Luke, and Mel began to wonder how future generations might reinterpret these places if only their digital twins were to survive.

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

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.

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.

Free entry

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.