Art Against the World

In the final episode we dig deeper into the terrestrial bedrock of Liverpool: the inspiration for this year's theme of the Liverpool Biennial exhibition. Artist collective DARCH share how their work unearths an optimistic view of the underworld, uniting life and mortality through their sacred soil installation. Artist Petros Moris creates artworks that evoke layers of archaeological time in his Greek hometown. Geologist Anjana Khatwa, the author of The Whispers of Rock, explains where the city's beautiful red sandstone comes from and how it connects us to the deep history of our planet. Presented by Vid Simoniti with contributions from Liverpool Biennial 2025 curator Marie-Anne McQuay. The second series of Art Against the World is part of the Liverpool Biennial 2025 public programme and is co-produced with the University of Liverpool.

Cobalt is in our phones, 50% of packaged goods contain palm oil and microplastics have been detected in human placentas. Globally traded materials are, for better or for worse, the everyday bedrock of our society. Artist Linda Lamignan explores their dual heritage from two oil economies, Norway and Nigeria, and explains how animism can inform a different understanding of natural resources. Artist Odur Ronald makes use of aluminium in his sculptures, highlighting parallel routes of global migration and extraction of resources from Africa today. Art historian Stephanie O'Rourke explains the complex relationship artists have always had to the materials traded through global networks since the age of industrialization. Presented by Vid Simoniti with contributions from Liverpool Biennial 2025 curator Marie-Anne McQuay. The second series of Art Against the World is part of the Liverpool Biennial 2025 public programme and is co-produced with the University of Liverpool.

Our histories can unite us, but they can also haunt us. The artists we talk to respond to ghosts of the past by interweaving historical narratives with reflection on their personal lives. Dawit L Petros investigates the archives of the empire to track down an unlikely 19th century adventure up the River Nile. Jennifer Tee recovers nearly forgotten Indonesian textile crafts, which inspire her life-affirming collages made of tulip petals. Michelle Peterkin-Walker, a Liverpool-based videographer, shares her archive of Liverpool's African diasporic culture. Presented by Vid Simoniti with contributions from Liverpool Biennial 2025 curator Marie-Anne McQuay. The second series of Art Against the World is part of the Liverpool Biennial 2025 public programme and is co-produced with the University of Liverpool. You can find out more about the exhibition at https://www.biennial.com/

How do biennial curators weave a narrative out of diverse artworks? Liverpool Biennial Director Sam Lackey shares her experience; curator Manuela Moscoso discusses the process behind Liverpool Biennial 2021. Presenter Vid Simoniti. Liverpool Biennial 2021 www.biennial.com LINKSLiverpool Biennial 2021: find out more about the artists and the exhibition Twitter: Liverpool Biennial / Vid Simoniti Instagram: Liverpool Biennial Works mentioned: Sam Lackey Neo Muyanga – A Maze in Grace (forthcoming at Liverpool Biennial) Anthony Gormley – Another Place (2005) Koo Jeong A – Evertro (Everton Park Skatepark) (2015) Teresa Solar – Osteoclast (forthcoming at Liverpool Biennial) Linder Sterling – The Ultimate Form (2012) exhibition at the Hepworth Wakefield Manuela Moscoso Oswald de Andrade: Manifesto Antropófago (1928) Jorge Manuela Barreto – Environmental Sculpture (forthcoming at Liverpool Biennial) Neo Muyanga – A Maze in Grace (forthcoming at Liverpool Biennial)

Art that portrays seas and migration. Alberta Whittle's new video unearths links between climate change and colonialism. Invernomuto's sound installation traces the influences of the Black diaspora on the Mediterranean culture. We are joined by curator Elvira Dyangani Ose. Presenter Vid Simoniti. Liverpool Biennial 2021 www.biennial.com LINKS Liverpool Biennial 2021: find out more about the artists and the exhibition Twitter: Liverpool Biennial / Vid Simoniti Instagram: Liverpool Biennial Works featured Alberta Whittle between a whisper and a cry (2019) https://www.biennial.com/2020/exhibition/artists/alberta-whittle The opening of Alberta Whittle's work contains a quotation from Christina Sharpe's book In the Wake: On Blackness and Being (Duke University Press) 2016 Invernomuto (Simone Bertuzzi and Simone Trabucchi) Black Med (2018-) https://blackmed.invernomuto.info/ commentator Elvira Dyangani Ose

How can art respond to ecological challenges? Jorge Menna Barreto relates how his "stomach sculpture" protects the Amazon rainforest, and video artist Bo Zheng discusses whether we can have sex with plants. We are joined by curator Margarida Mendes. Presenter Vid Simoniti. LINKS Liverpool Biennial 2021: find out more about the artists and the exhibition Twitter: Liverpool Biennial / Vid Simoniti Instagram: Liverpool Biennial Works featured Jorge Menna Barreto Il Restauro (2016) https://www.visibleproject.org/blog/project/restauro-environmental-sculpture-32a-bienal-of-so-paulo-brazil/ Bo Zheng Pteridophilia (2016) http://zhengbo.org/2018_PP3.html commentator Margarida Mendes