Exercising Photography, Winter 2027
Created for Open Eye Gallery’s 50th anniversary, Exercising Photography brings together projects by some of the world’s leading artists working with photography, including Rinko Kawauchi and Max Pinckers. The exhibition considers photography as a medium that is continually exercised – tested, practised, questioned and put to work. It looks at both the stories photographs tell and what photography itself can do socially, politically, conceptually and poetically.
The exhibition will evolve between January and May 2027, with works changing throughout its run to create new relationships between projects and ideas. Its selection is being developed by Open Eye Gallery’s curators alongside invited contributions from leading figures in photography, including Diane Smyth, editor of the British Journal of Photography, and Fiona Shields, Head of Photography at The Guardian.
Liverpool Biennial, Summer 2027
Liverpool Biennial is the UK’s largest free festival of contemporary visual art. The next edition of the Biennial, informed by perspectives and experiences of childhood and youth in Liverpool across the world, will take place 5 June – 12 September 2027. Open Eye Gallery is a key partner, collaborating to showcase significant photography/media artists to local and international visitors.
Self-Defined (International Programme)
Building on Open Eye Gallery’s 2026 exhibition Self-Defined. New Stories From Archives, this project develops new international programme in collaboration with institutions, archives and artists in different countries across Europe.
The first international edition will take place at the Art Museum RIGA BOURSE in Latvia. Working with local partners, artists and researchers, Open Eye Gallery will explore independent photographic archives and collections and co-create an exhibition of newly commissioned work developed through this research. The project will bring archival material into dialogue with the present day and establish a model through which Self-Defined can continue internationally, shaped each time by local archives, histories and artistic practices.
HOME (International Programme)
The next destination for our significant touring exhibition of 20 Ukrainian photographers’ work exploring the notion of home will be in the Oslo Military Museum from May to September 2027. The previous installment of the exhibition was shown in Horten, with partner Preus, National Photography Museum of Norway, in 2026, and prior to this the exhibition was on a UK national tour, culminating in the Houses of Parliament.
Partner Photography Anniversary Projects
20 years of the Sony World Photography Awards: celebration of the international award winners over the last 20 years via an exhibition on Open Eye Gallery’s External Walls in the Mann Island atrium space.
30 years of the Wellcome Photography Prize: celebration of the international award winners over the last 20 years via an exhibition on Open Eye Gallery’s External Walls in the Mann Island atrium space.
Partnering with National Museums Liverpool, the 2027 Wellcome Photography Prize shortlist exhibition and Awards ceremony will be for the first time shown outside London in the World Museum.
Nature Focus
Young Conservationist of the Year Photography Award. The award will be launched with partners Chester Zoo early in 2027, with the online platform going live for submissions in the late spring and judging with photography and nature experts taking place in the autumn.
Yan Wang Preston commission with RHS Wisley. Dr Yan Wang Preston is a multi-award-winning visual artist and photographer who is passionate about the natural world and our positions within it. She is currently Artist in Residence at RHS Garden Bridgewater in partnership with University of Salford Art Collection and Open Eye Gallery. Another commission is planned with RHS Wisley in 2027.
Socially Engaged Photography and Community Collaborations
Ten years of Championing Socially Engaged Photography (Working title: Their Own Making), Autumn 2027
Marking a decade of collaborative storytelling, Open Eye Gallery’s landmark exhibition celebrates 10 years of socially engaged photography working with a broad range of partners across the Liverpool City Region and beyond. By pairing lead artists with local groups – from boxing clubs across the city, to innovations from a group with early onset dementia (working with the NHS), to a photography club in Crossby Library, to community gardens across the city region, to young people exploring their northern identity and many other projects – the show will champion work created with communities to reflect their lived experiences, interests and/or shared heritage.
New Faces New Focus (National Touring Programme)
New Faces, New Focus is a collaborative touring exhibition bringing together new creative work by artists and community participants alongside objects and artworks from three museums collections across the UK.
Created by Open Eye Gallery in partnership with Armagh, Banbridge and Craigavon Borough Council and Aberdeenshire Council’s Museums Service, the touring exhibition is part of Art Fund’s Going Places programme, where museums celebrate their collections in collaboration with local communities.
Developed through socially engaged residencies, the exhibition explores the theme of journeys, identity and home through the voices of local communities whose stories have not always been represented in museum collections – including those with lived experience of migration and displacement.
The exhibition is currently on display at Open Eye Gallery until 20th December 2026, touring to Armagh County Museum in January 2027, and Aberdeenshire Museum Service in summer 2027.
Unsung Heroes (April 2027 – September 2028)
Unsung Heroes II, partnering Liverpool City Council, will include 4 local photographers/film creatives, including 1 D/deaf, collaborating with local sporting communities in response to the world sport events: Inclusive Sport and Culture Festival; International Wheelchair Basketball Federation European Championships; Tour de France in 2027, & UEFA European Football Championships 2028, with 3 exhibitions in St Georges Hall and utilising digital displays in selected bus stops.
Local & Global RED
2027 is the 50th Anniversary of Liverpool FC winning the 1977 European Cup (now the Champions League). Working with RED, led by socially engaged photographer Emma Case, who is the daughter of 1977 midfielder Jimmy Case, this project will explore local and international fans’ memories and family recollections of that pivotal moment for the club. Exhibitions will be included in Open Eye Gallery’s autumn exhibition celebrating our national lead for Socially Engaged Photography (and 10 years of exhibiting photographer/community collaborations across our main gallery spaces) and it will then go on to be exhibited at the Liverpool Football Club Museum.
Nature Connections (Title TBC)
Liverpool City Region supported programme throughout 2027, with a socially engaged photographer in residence collaborating with local communities, in each area of the city region, to explore photography as a route to connecting to nature. Resulting work will be shown in Open Eye Gallery’s Climate Lab (January to March 2028).
Martin Parr Memorial Project
Working with the New Brighton Murals project who are commissioning a mural portrait of Martin Parr, in memorial, with the Martin Parr Foundation, Open Eye Gallery will be collaborating with local community members/schools to revisit New Brighton – the subject matter of Martin Parr’s seminal Last Resort exhibition (first shown at Open Eye Gallery), which was pivotal in Martin’s rise to national and international fame during the 1980’s. Work from communities and local photographer Tadhg Devlin will be exhibited at the Floral Pavilion in New Brighton.
The Gathering: Stop the Clause
2028 marks 40 years since the enactment of Section 28. Section 28 was born from fear, ignorance, and hostility, seeking to erase LGBTQI+ lives from public visibility and cultural discourse. Anti-Section 28 protest march happened on 30 April 1988.By returning to this moment of protest, this project, in partnership with Homotopia, insists that these histories are not closed chapters but ongoing conversations, reminding us that visibility itself can be an act of resistance and that remembering is inseparable from the struggle against erasure.
Socially Engaged Projects at Open Eye Hub Wigan & Leigh
- Common Threads celebrating Wigan’s textile heritage with particular focus on fashion. Photographer-in-residence will be working with local communities and Wigan’s photography archive to reflect on local fashion and create an exhibition and a body of work that will be added to the archive for posterity.
- Seeing Eye to Eye is a new creative and community project by artist Sam Batley and Open Eye Hub Wigan & Leigh. What does masculinity mean and what does it mean to be a man in the borough of Wigan & Leigh here and now? The project will be created with people from across the borough, bringing in a range of ideas, voices and perspectives – and the result will be a new photography and media exhibition to be shown in 2027.
- Humans of Wigan: a socially engaged project with photographer Christopher Nunn that explores the town and highlights the stories, history, and individuals that make this place great. The exhibition is expected to take over the town centre shops, outdoor pop-ups, and community centres.
This moment creates a strong organising story for partnership. A brand could help bring together exhibitions, commissions, conversations, publications, community activity and public events under a visible anniversary relationship, while supporting a legacy that continues after the celebrations end.