The Oldest Chinatown - Liverpool Biennial 2025 Ep 5

Liverpool has the oldest Chinatown in Europe, dating back to the 1830s. We explore how the concept of Chinatowns around the world has changed and how it remains a cultural bedrock for the communities that inhabit it. Artist Karen Tam takes us into the domestic spaces above Chinatown restaurants through an installation that evokes Cantonese opera playing in her grandmother’s bedroom. Artist ChihChung Chang recalls growing up in the Taiwanese port of Kaohsiung and examines the complexity of Chinese identity abroad. Liverpool-based musician and community organiser Zi Lan Liao explains the significance of preserving music across generations, while researcher Emily Beswick highlights how this bustling city quarter was constructed across various waves of migration. 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.

Om Podcasten

A contemporary art podcast that brings together artists, writers and thinkers to discuss how art responds to the world around us. Hosted by philosopher Vid Simoniti, each episode features artists in this year's Liverpool Biennial exhibition, paired with unexpected guests--from cultural critics to community voices. In Season 2, we unpick the central idea of Liverpool Biennial 2025: Bedrock. In an often polarised and fragmented world, what remains our bedrock? What are the things that ground us? Our guests explore answers from a shared family, history, or culture, to a critique of the economic and political realities that undergird our everyday experiences. You can listen to the episodes in order, or by scanning the QR codes next to the artworks exhibited around the city. Each episode features two LB2025 artists, and puts them in conversation with a thinker, performer or writer. www.biennial.com Credits Written and presented by Vid Simoniti, with contributions from Marie-Anne McQuay Co-producer Martha Murphy Sound design Luke Thomas Visual design ohfourtwoseven ⁠ Supported by Liverpool Biennial and the University of Liverpool