Liverpool is the only city in the UK to host a biennial of contemporary visual art. In partnership with venues throughout the city, Liverpool Biennial brings together artists from around the world in a celebration of the freshest and most innovative elements of visual culture.
Tate Liverpool is a major venue for the Liverpool Biennial's International 2002 – one of five elements of the Biennial programme – along with the Bluecoat Arts Centre, Pleasant Street School and public spaces around the city.
International 2002 features twenty-eight artists, both established and new, many presenting work specially commissioned for the exhibition. These artists have been invited into a dialogue with Liverpool – using the city as a specific cultural context for the exhibition. Artists featured include Olaf Breuning, Elizabeth and Iftikan Dadi, Clare Langan, Mark Lewis, Jorge Pardo and Jason Rhoades.
There are a number of other elements to Liverpool Biennial. The John Moores Exhibition of Contemporary Painting is one of the UK's largest open competitions for painting. Bloomberg New Contemporaries features work by artists emerging from UK art colleges while the Independent Exhibition is where the region's artists exhibit their own work and host the art of their choice from the UK and abroad. And finally, there is a live events programme which includes workshops, tours, community events, live art performances, conferences and talks.
