For the Olympic year, Liverpool Biennial will explore the theme of hospitality. Hospitality is the welcome we extend to strangers – an attitude and a code of conduct as well as a metaphor that suggests conditions and energies that inspire artists. Liverpool Biennial 2012 invites artists and thinkers to bring forth new understandings of hospitality for our increasingly globalised and complex times.

The Unexpected Guest

The Biennial exhibition The Unexpected Guest will show works by over 60 leading and emerging artists from across the world in locations throughout the city. The Cunard Building will be used as a venue for the first time this year. One of the city’s iconic ‘Three Graces’ with the Port of Liverpool and Royal Liver buildings, it was inspired by the Farnese Palace in Rome to house passengers embarking on the Cunard Line’s trans-Atlantic voyages departing from Liverpool.

Doug Aitken with David Adjaye
John Akomfrah
Hurvin Anderson
Janine Antoni
Keith Arnatt
Kader Attia
Yael Bartana
Sylvie Blocher
Sophie Calle
Rhys Chatham
Libia Castro and Ólafur Ólafsson
Enrico David
Eugenio Dittborn
Elmgreen and Dragset
Fischli and Weiss
David Weiss
Dora Garcia
Gilbert and George
Simryn Gill
Mona Hatoum
Fritz Haeg
Oded Hirsch
Thomas Hirschhorn
Hsieh Ying-Chun
Nadia Kaabi Linke
Markus Kahre
William Kentridge
Anja Kirschner and David Panos
Jakob Kolding
Jiri Kovanda
Suzanne Lacy
Runo Lagomarsino
Jorge Macchi
Dane Mitchell
Sabelo Mlangeni
Mark Morrisroe
Patrick Murphy
Ahmet Ögüt
Field Operations
Trevor Paglen
Christodoulos Panayiotou
Martin Parr
Pedro Reyes
Rhizome
Pamela Rosenkranz
George Shaw
Pak Sheung Chuen
Mikhael Subotzky
Superflex
Sun Xun
Sinta Tantra
Althea Thauberger
Mark Titchner
Jeanne van Heeswijk
Mark Wallinger
Jemima Wyman
Ming Wong
Kohei Yoshiyuki
Sun Xun
Akram Zaatari

City States brings together over 60 artists from seven countries, exploring the dynamics between cities and states with new and existing works. It will present work from cities including Copenhagen, Erbil, Gdansk, Hong Kong, Incheon, Lisbon, Makhachkala, Oslo, Reyjkavik and Vilinius. In partnership with Liverpool John Moores University, the LJMU Copperas Hill Building, Lime Street – used as a sorting office from 1977 – 2011, will host both City States and Bloomberg New Contemporaries.

Bloomberg New Contemporaries showcases the best contemporary work from art schools around the UK. Established in 1949, New Contemporaries is a founding partner of Liverpool Biennial.

The John Moores Painting Prize, the most celebrated contemporary painting prize worldwide, will be presented at the Walker Art Gallery.

The Royal Standard, Liverpool’s artist-led studio space, will present Service Provider, an exhibition which explores the role of Biennials in contemporary art.

The Victoria Gallery and Museum, participating in the Biennial for the first time, will present an exhibition by Liverpool based artist Paul Rooney.

Participating organisations and venues include The Cunard Building, The Bluecoat, Everton Park, FACT, Liverpool ONE, Metal, The Monro, Open Eye Gallery, Tate Liverpool, Mitchell’s Bakery, LJMU Copperas Building (Lime Street), the Walker Art Gallery, Victoria Gallery and Museum and The Royal Standard.

For more information about the announcement please click here