Culture Diary w/c 01-06-2026
Our pick of this week’s arts, design, film and music events from across Liverpool and beyond…
Monday – Portrait of a Lady on Fire 5.10pm @ FACT Liverpool – £9.35
When Céline Sciamma’s Portrait of a Lady on Fire won the Queer Palm at Cannes, jurors were quick to point out that “above all,” it is “an incredible film for cinema”, full stop. All who have seen it are inclined to agree. Telling a tale of desire between a painter and her subject in late 18th century France, this is a “period piece with a distinctly modern feminist sensibility”.
Tuesday – Exhibitions Continue: John Akomfrah: Listening All Night to the Rain & Gender Stories @ the Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool – FREE
Recently opened, this fine pair of exhibitions should be savoured. John Akomfrah’s Listening All Night to the Rain (commissioned for the British Pavilion at the Venice Biennale in 2024) offers a space in which to meditate on colonial and post-colonial history. Drawing on memory, migration, racial injustice and climate change, this is serious art for serious times – past, present, and future. In Gender Stories, we find works brought together to address questions including (but not limited to): What is gender? How have ideas about it changed over time? How does it shape our day-to-day lives? Includes work by Helen Chadwick, David Hockney, Zanele Muholi and many more.
Wednesday – Book Launch: Melete, by Jennifer Lee Tsai 6pm @ the Bluecoat, Liverpool – £2-£5 (£15 including book)
Artist in Residence at the Bluecoat, Jennifer Lee Tsai, joined by Costa Book of the Year Poetry Award winner Hannah Lowe, launches her first full-length collection of poems, Melete, which tackles culture, heritage, memory, migration, and mysticism. Expect readings by the pair, who will be in conversation with curator Marie-Anne McQuay, and music from pianist Hannah Chiu.
From the archive: Jennifer Lee Tsai: Fallen Star
British Art History – Forgotten Chapters, with Professor Tamar Garb 6.30pm @ Exhibition Research Lab @ John Lennon Art & Design Building, Liverpool – FREE
The current exhibition at Liverpool John Moores University’s Exhibition Research Lab throws light on self-taught South African photographer, George Hallett, who worked in the country both pre- and post-apartheid. This first in a series of conversations with South African artists and art historians in response to the exhibition, finds its curator Dr Christine Eyene joined by fellow art historian and curator Professor Tamar Garb, to discuss Dumile Feni (1942-1991). Photographed by Hallett in 1983 (below), Feni was one of the first Black South African visual artists to live in exile in London and New York from 1968 to 1991.
Thursday – Talking Culture: Public Discussion Group 5.30pm @ the Bluecoat, Liverpool – FREE (booking required)
The second in a series of discussions convened by the Bluecoat ‘to think, talk, and explore today’s major issues,’ this meeting, led by Dr. Kirsty Morrin, Senior Lecturer in Sociology at the University of Liverpool, uses as its departure point the title Justice Delayed is Justice Denied: The Grenfell Tower Fire. With director Steve McQueen’s essential Grenfell film currently screening at the gallery, the discussion offers a timely opportunity – and reminder – to keep social justice on the agenda.
Friday – Exhibition Opening: Small Wonders: Reimagining British Art @ Williamson Art Gallery and Museum – FREE
Marking the 75th anniversary of 1951′s Festival of Britain, this Hayward Gallery touring show offers a contemporary reimagining of the hopeful landmark exhibition that accompanied it. Bringing together 50 artists who have participated in the British Art Show since its inception in 1979, with each artist creating new, small-scale works, Small Wonders promises a focused overview of recent(ish) British art history.
Exhibition Opening: Nocturnal Rainbow: Maurice Cockrill RA 6pm @ Bridewell Studios & Gallery – FREE
2026 sees bastion of Liverpool’s artist led scene, Bridewell Studios & Gallery, celebrate 50 years since moving into the site of a former police station in 1976. Marking this impressive anniversary, Nocturnal Rainbow showcases the work of one of its most influential early residents, Maurice Cockrill RA (1936 – 2013), presenting paintings made when he lived and worked there between 1978 and 1982.
Saturday – Music from the Movies: The Best of 20th Century Film Soundtracks 7.30pm @ Liverpool Philharmonic Hall – from £10
As debates about how we consume cinema in general – via a still-growing multitude of streaming platforms, or the good old-fashioned way – rumble on, there is a parallel trend for experiencing film scores live. Whatever your own preferences, tonight’s concert at Liverpool Philharmonic (conducted by Anthony Gabriele) promises bangers from Star Wars, Back to the Future, Casablanca, Vertigo, and more.
Sunday – Last Chance to See: Self Defined. New Stories from Archives @ Open Eye Gallery, Liverpool – FREE
A “first attempt,” says curator Viktoria Bavykina, ”in our long-term work with photography archives from countries occupied or influenced by the Soviet regime,” Self Defined mines the “histories, legacies, and lives shaped by years of totalitarian and imperial rule.” The result is a poignant, sometimes speculative, coming together of family stories, including: an exploration of post-Second World War displacement in Poland and Ukraine; the history of the Crimean Tatars in the 20th century; rural life in Latvia; collages of Soviet tourist photographs, and family archives. Catch it while you can.
Mike Pinnington
Images, from top: Portrait of a Lady on Fire; Listening All Night to the Rain, John Akomfrah; George Hallett, Dumile. New York, 1983. Courtesy of George Hallett Research Collection
