Start your Liverpool Biennial 2016 journey by exploring the exhibitions and public artworks on display at the Liverpool Waterfront. If you are coming into Liverpool via train depart at Liverpool James Street, or ask for Paradise Street is you prefer to use the bus.

Instead of a theme, the Biennial is using the concept of ‘episodes’ to bring together a wide range of artworks. This year, the contemporary art festival is a TV show. In line with this, the artists and artworks can be regarded as characters that you spot in different venues and become more familiar with as you explore the Biennial. I find myself drawn to elements of the time travel episode in a lot of the artworks on display at the Waterfront venues and public spaces.

One artwork that you will definitely become familiar with is ‘What the Living Do’ by Jason Dodge. It is a series of scattered rubbish placed around the Biennial venues, signifying the passing of time and mob mentality through its invitation of asking Biennial goers to add to the accumulating bits on the floor.

From the train station, walk straight down the hill to George’s Dock Ventilation Tower Plaza. Here you will find Betty Woodman’s ‘A Visit to Rome’ which is a fountain made up of a concrete structure with delicate bronze details spread across it. Woodman’s source of inspiration for this jump across different times, borrowing styles from Ancient Greece to Italian Baroque and Picasso amongst many others to create a final display of ancient like treasures.

A protest is happening nearby at Open Eye Gallery. Fear not, this is actually an artwork by Koki Tanaka and is a re-stage of the mass protest against the Conservative Goverment’s Youth Training Scheme that happened in Liverpool just over 30 years ago in 1985. History repeats itself and although this protest is staged, its content is very relevant to the challenges of gaining higher education and securing real jobs that many young people are facing today.

After Open Eye Gallery, walk behind the Museum of Liverpool to make your way to Tate Liverpool. It’s hard to miss but keep an eye out for the Dazzle Ship when you’re walking next to the river. Inspired by war ships from World War II, Peter Blake designed the bright geometric patterns for this Mersey ferry that parade colours across the grey river.

We travel further back in time at Tate Liverpool. Although there are a number of contemporary artworks dotted around the exhibition space, the main highlight here is the Henry Blundell’s collection of mismatched classical sculptures. There’s something unnatural about these sculptures, some more obvious that others and that’s because 18th century restorers had a humorous practise of repairing these objects for sales by using random fragments to create a complete but entirely new work.

When you’re ready to leave the time travel bubble on the Liverpool Waterfront, you can head over to Paradise Street to get the 27 bus to Cains Brewery and 143 Granby or walk into town to explore the Bloomberg Contemporaries at the Bluecoat and the John Moores Painting Prize at the Walker Art Gallery.

Written by Sufea Mohamad Noor
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About Liverpool Biennial
Liverpool Biennial presents the largest festival of contemporary visual art in the UK. It takes place every two years across the city in public spaces, unused buildings, galleries and online. Liverpool Biennial 2016 runs from 9 July until 16 October and is organised as a story narrated in several episodes: fictional worlds that draw from Liverpool’s past, present and future. Founded in 1998, Liverpool Biennial has commissioned over 268 new artworks and presented work by over 400 artists from around the world.
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