Design & Empire [working title]

Liverpool Biennial presents the UK biennial of contemporary art. It takes place every two years across the city in public spaces, unused buildings, galleries and online. The Biennial is underpinned by a programme of research, education, residencies and commissions. Founded in 1998, Liverpool Biennial has commissioned over 340 new artworks and presented work by over 480 artists from around the world.

Liverpool Biennial

Design & Empire [working title] is a weekend of free events exploring the power structures embedded within contemporary and historical design, visual art, and consumer culture.
Presented by Liverpool Biennial and Liverpool John Moores University and curated by Prem Krishnamurthy, Emily King, and Joasia Krysa, Design & Empire brings together practitioners from the fields of art, design, architecture, and fashion. Framed by guided city tours exploring Liverpool’s architectural past and a cooking event serving a colonial-style Christmas Pudding, the weekend presents a series of talks from leading creative voices. These conversations touch upon topics ranging from national identity and the display of museum collections, copying within creative manufacturing, distributed models of property ownership, postcolonial approaches to contemporary fashion, reuse and revaluation of bio-industrial materials, the politics of computer interfaces, and beyond. With Liverpool as both the subject and stage, Design & Empire will collaborate with its citizens in challenging aspects of Liverpool’s imperial legacy whilst reflecting on current practices within design and visual culture.
Click 'Register' to see the full schedule and book for the whole weekend or choose one or more of the events.
Participants include Shumi Bose (curator, RIBA and teacher, Central Saint Martins, University of The Arts London); artist duo Cooking Sections (Daniel Fernández Pascual & Alon Schwabe); Frederico Duarte (curator); Paul Elliman; Mohamed Elshahed (Project Curator, Modern Egypt Project); Christopher Kulendran Thomas (artist); Mae-ling Lokko (architect and Assistant Professor, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute); Meriç Öner (Director of Research & Programming, SALT); Duro Olowu (fashion designer); Christian Ulrik Andersen (Associate Professor, Aarhus University, Department of Digital Design and Information Studies); and Grace Wales Bonner (fashion designer).
Delivered in partnership with RIBA North and The Serving Library at Liverpool John Moores University’s Exhibition Research Lab. Funded by Arts Council England. 
Image: Grace Wales Bonner, Ezekiel, 2017. Image courtesy Jamie Morgan & Tom Guinness

Design & Empire [working title]

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Design & Empire [working title]

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