Walker Art Gallery will present Listening All Night To The Rain, a major multi-channel film and sound installation by Sir John Akomfrah, opening on 16 May 2026.
Originally commissioned by the British Council for the British Pavilion at the 60th Venice Biennale, the exhibition arrives in Liverpool as part of a UK tour supported by Art Fund.
The title of the work is inspired by poetry written by Chinese writer Su Dongpo during a period of political exile. Structured into a series of ‘Cantos’ or movements, the installation explores themes of memory, migration, racial injustice and climate change through Akomfrah’s distinctive cinematic style.
Walker Art Gallery will showcase three of the eight cantos first presented in Venice. Canto I will transform the gallery’s neoclassical exterior with projected imagery and voices from the Global Majority displayed across the portico, echoing its original presentation on the façade of the British Pavilion. The work honours communities and individuals historically marginalised by the legacies of imperialism.
Inside the gallery, visitors will experience Cantos IV and V through immersive soundscapes, archival footage and newly filmed material gathered from locations around the world. Water flows throughout the installation as a recurring visual and symbolic thread, connecting stories that span generations and continents.
The exhibition also features sculptural installations with embedded screens inspired by religious altarpieces, set within colour fields influenced by the paintings of Mark Rothko, creating contemplative spaces for reflection and discussion.
One of Britain’s most influential artist-filmmakers, Akomfrah has longstanding creative links to Liverpool. His acclaimed documentary A Touch of the Tar Brush (1991), made for BBC2’s Think of England, explored the lives of the city’s multicultural families in response to J. B. Priestley’s English Journey (1934).
In 2000, Akomfrah directed Riot for Channel 4, examining the 1981 Toxteth unrest through the perspectives of residents, police officers and community activists. His work The Unfinished Conversation (2012), which traced the life and ideas of cultural theorist Stuart Hall, premiered during the Liverpool Biennial in 2012.
Akomfrah was knighted in 2023 for services to the arts and received the Artes Mundi Prize in 2017.
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.
Charlotte Keenan, Head of Walker Art Gallery, said:
We’re delighted to bring Sir John Akomfrah’s Listening All Night To The Rain to Liverpool. Its themes of migration, memory and belonging have a real connection to this city’s history, and to present work of this scale and ambition at the Walker, following its debut at the Venice Biennale, is something we’re very proud of.
Emma Dexter, Director of Visual Arts and British Council Collection, said:
We are proud to see Listening All Night To The Rain continue its journey in Liverpool, a city whose histories and communities resonate deeply with the themes at the heart of Sir John Akomfrah’s work. Art Fund’s support has been vital in enabling this commission to tour in the UK, and bring the installation to wider audiences.
Following its presentation in Venice, Listening All Night To The Rain was shown at Amgueddfa Cymru – National Museum Cardiff (2025) and Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid (2025–26). After its run at Walker Art Gallery, the tour continues to Dundee Contemporary Arts later in 2026.
Listening All Night To The Rain opens at Walker Art Gallery on 16 May 2026 and runs until 31 August 2026.
Admission is free, with all donations welcome.
For more information, visit the website.
