The Associate Artists programme was a major three-year initiative (2015–2018) by Liverpool Biennial, in partnership with Independent Curators International (ICI) and CACTUS, supporting artists based in the North of England to develop their careers internationally.

Artists are increasingly able to build sustainable careers outside London if they have the opportunity to strengthen their networks and markets beyond the UK. Liverpool Biennial and its partners are working with eleven artists to provide a unique opportunity to work with leading international figures in the art world. Their work has been showcased through an exhibition at Liverpool Biennial 2016 and in 2018 is also the focus of an exhibition at BALTIC 39 in Newcastle as part of the Great Exhibition of the North programme. They have also built international networks with curators, art biennials, galleries and art fairs.

The artists are: Simeon Barclay (Leeds), Jacqueline Bebb (Chester), Lindsey Bull (Manchester), Robert Carter (Manchester), Nina Chua (Manchester), Matthew Crawley (Leeds), Frances Disley (Liverpool), Daniel Fogarty (Manchester), Harry Meadley (Leeds), Stephen Sheehan (Birkenhead), Lauren Velvick (Manchester).

The artists have been paired with ten international curators to mentor them and work closely with. The curators are: Rattanamol Johal (C-MAP Fellow for Asia in the department of Media and Performance Art at MoMA in New York, USA), Amanda de la Garza Mata (Associate Curator at the University Museum of Contemporary Art in Mexico City, Mexico), Mónica Espinel (Independent Curator based in New York, USA), Meaghan Kent (Director and Chief Curator of SITE95 in Guadalajara, Mexico), Rotem Rozental (Writer, Curator and Photo Historian based in New York, USA), Marta Ramos-Yzquierdo (Art Historian at the Complutense University if Madrid, Spain), Rachel Cook (Associate Curator at DiverseWorks in Houston, USA), Karen Patterson (Associate Curator at John Michael Kohler Arts Centre in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, USA), Rosa Lleó (Writer and Independent Curator based in Barcelona, Spain), Övül Durmusoglu (Freelance Writer and Curator and Director of YAMA screen in Istanbul, Turkey). Read their biographies.

The Liverpool Biennial Associate Artists Programme is part of the Biennial’s year-round commitment to working with local artists and promoting the city as a creative and vibrant destination for artists to live and work in. It aims to create valuable networks, which can be developed beyond the two and a half year lifespan of the project, and the skills to use that network to build bigger markets. 

Supported by the Arts Council England International Showcasing fund