Liverpool Biennial 2010 Touched 18 September to 28 November

Programmed for ten weeks under the directorship of Lewis Biggs, the 2010 Liverpool Biennial is the largest and one of the most ambitious contemporary visual arts events in the UK.

Touched, the biennial’s critical focus this year, is a major show celebrating a decade of new art brought to the UK through through curatorial collaboration. It includes work (some commissioned) from over 60 emerging and established artists and.locations. Touched is a collaboration of diverse individual organisations ranging from city art institutions to local community groups, all with the shared goal of engaging art, people and place.

The curatorial line-up is: Lorenzo Fusi – Liverpool Biennial’s non-gallery sites, Peter Gorschlüter – Tate Liverpool, Patrick Henry – Open Eye Gallery, Sara-Jayne Parsons – Bluecoat, Mike Stubbs – FACT and Mark Waugh – A Foundation Liverpool.

Half the exhibition will be sited in public spaces across the city. A Foundation presents Bloomberg New Contemporaries, a selection of promising up-and-coming artists throughout the UK. The Walker Art Gallery will show the John Moores Painting Prize, announced 16 September.

A collaboration between No Longer Empty and The Art Organization (TAO) brings new life to Liverpool’s many abandoned premises, operating under the name S.Q.UA.T. Liverpool 2010, and a there is to be a new strand organised by artist-led spaces and collectives: the Cooperative will run events at Arena, Red Wire, The Royal Standard, Sound Network, LSSSS, Jump Ship Rat and Mercy.

New commissions by: Sachiko Abe, Alfredo and Isabel Aquilizan, Rosa Barba, Laura Belém, Emese Benczúr, Daniel Bozhkov, Nina Canell, Danica Daki?, Song Dong, Wannes Goetschalckx, NS Harsha, Diango Hernández, Nicholas Hlobo, Jamie Isenstein, Alfredo Jaar, Kaarina Kaikkonen, Eva Kot'átková, Will Kwan, Lars Laumann, Antii Laitinen, Minouk Lim, Cristina Lucas, Tala Madani, Yves Netzhammer, Raymond Pettibon, Ranjani Shettar, Do Ho Suh, Franz West and Héctor Zamora.

Installations by: Tehching Hsieh, Kris Martin, Otto Muehl, Carol Rama, and Ryan Trecartin.

Special projects by: The final act of Tania Bruguera’s legendary Cátedra Arte de Conducta from Havana will take place over the 10 weeks, with continuing actions by 20 Cuban artists recreating Allan Kaprow’s ‘Happenings’ and staging new performances and events.

Painters Oren Eliav, Tim Eitel, Edi Hila, Y.Z. Kami, Aime Mpane, Csaba Kis Roka, Markus Schinwald, and Zbynek Sedlecký will exhibit work under the title The Human Stain.

Magdalena Abakanowicz will show an installation from 1978/80, previously unseen in the UK. Carlos Amorales has been commissioned for the visual concept for marketing Touched.

Minerva Cuevas, Meschac Gaba, Freee, Karmelo Bermejo, Daniel Knorr, Lee Mingwei, and Julieta Aranda & Anton Vidokle will use existing and new projects with the aim of Re-Thinking Trade.