Arrival City

Arrival City presents a portrait of Liverpool, and more specifically Toxteth, as a city of immigration. Liverpool’s historic status as an important port city makes it one of the most unique ‘arrival cities’ in the UK, with many layers of history still making up the identities of people who have lived here for generations. This past has influenced the architectural character of the city - we walk through streets named after celebrated anti-abolitionists and past grand buildings paid for by slave-traders. One of the questions Arrival City asks is: how does the past affect the people’s way of life in Liverpool?

Toxteth’s relationship with immigration is multi-layered, made up of different pasts and presents. This abundance of perspectives can be heard in the poetry, spoken word, and music of the area’s artists. Arrival City seeks to learn and understand these points of difference through the timeless ritual of conversation: creating a space for exchange, whether through storytelling, poetry and music, or simply open discussion with one another.

From April to June 2019, a series of events, an exhibition and a newly commissioned zine from ROOT-ed will open up this space for exchange.

The exhibition Arrival City arose from the German contribution to the 2016 Venice Biennale of Architecture Making Heimat. Germany, Arrival Country commissioned by the German architecture museum, the Federal Ministry for Interior, Building and Community. In cooperation with the two commissioners the Goethe-Institut is now sending Arrival City around the world. The British version of Arrival City is curated by Niloo Sharifi, a Liverpool-born writer and curator based in Toxteth. She has lived between Liverpool and Iran for much of her life - experiencing the feeling of arrival and departure in each place, and the displacement felt at belonging to two places at once - which she explores through her written and curatorial practice.