Opening on 16 May 2026, this multi-channel film and sound installation has been created by Sir John Akomfrah RA.
Originally commissioned by the British Council for the British Pavillion at the 60th Venice Biennale in 2024, this exhibition will come to Liverpool as part of a tour funded by Art Fund.
The work Listening all Night to the Rain has been inspired by the poetry of the Chinese writer Su Dongpo (1037–1101), then arranged into a canto, with the Walker Gallery displaying three out of the eight cantos that were shown in Venice.
Transforming the gallery’s exterior, Canto I will contain imagery and voices that project the original appearance on the façade of the British Pavillion in Venice. Cantos IV and V will be inside and will be showing a layering of soundscapes and recently formed footage from around the world.
The gallery writes that Akomfrah addresses memory, migration, racial injustice and climate change. His signature cinematic style creates critical and poetic connections across different places and times to encourage acts of listening and looking again, as forms of activism.
Sir John Akomfrah said: “I’ve had a long personal and professional relationship with the city of Liverpool, returning many times over the last four decades. It’s always felt to me, like an ever-unfolding conversation between myself, the city, and its communities.
Many of the themes, stories, people and ideas within my practice draw inspiration from, or find deep resonances with, cities like Liverpool. It is a place shaped by movement, by departures and arrivals, and by stories carried across water.
To bring Listening all Night to the Rain here, feels less like an arrival and more like a continuation of that conversation - one that Liverpool feels uniquely equipped to host.”
Admission is free, with all donations welcome. For more information, visit liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/johnakomfrah
