Liverpool Biennial has revealed the title and the participating artists for its 14th edition. The Age of Magical Thinking, curated by Aimee Harrison and Lucia Sanroman, will run from June 5 to September 19, 2027, and brings together 24 artists whose work is shaped by the experience of childhood and youth.

The artist list spans generations and continents. It includes Francis Alys, Petrit Halilaj, Rineke Dijkstra, Amalia Pica, Anya Paintsil, Ad Minoliti, Ivan Argote, Tania Candiani and Zohra Opoku, alongside Charmaine Poh, Dor Guez, Elias Nafaa, Harold Offeh, Hiroko Kubo, Laakkuluk Williamson, Marilyn Boror Bor, Robert Gabris, Ronak and Roza Moshtaghi, Ruth Ewan, Yarema Malashchuk and Roman Khimei, and the collectives EBB.Global and he vacuum cleaner.

The theme starts from the idea of childhood as a period of constant change, in which the present is experienced as a transition toward something not yet known. The title draws on the psychologist Jean Piaget's theory of cognitive development, which describes how children make sense of the world through lines blurred between reality and make-believe. In recent years the phrase magical thinking has also been used to describe the effects of ideological polarisation, authoritarian rhetoric and the world-shaping challenges brought by technology and artificial intelligence, and the Biennial intends to hold both meanings at once.

The festival will take place across Liverpool's galleries and public spaces, in partnership with venues including Bluecoat, FACT Liverpool, Open Eye Gallery, the Victoria Gallery and Museum, the Walker Art Gallery and Liverpool Cathedral. In Williamson Square, Harold Offeh will work with a group of local young people to co-create a large-scale public artwork, and a programme of free events, performances and gatherings will run through the summer. Sanroman said that working with the perspectives and experiences of children and young people had given the curators a lens through which to face the complexity of the present political moment. The Biennial, the UK's largest free festival of contemporary art, is supported by Arts Council England, Liverpool City Council and Liverpool Accommodation BID, and previews and an opening programme are scheduled for June 3 and 4, 2027.