The Biennale de l’Image Possible/BIP is an international arts event, based in Liège, which explores the nature of contemporary images and the relationships we have with them. Launched in 1997, it explores the heterogeneity and porosity of the various forms of the contemporary image, particularly photography, in response to the issues affecting the world and society.

The programme brings together Belgian and international artists and presents a wide variety of works (photographs, videos, films, and immersive visual, sound and digital installations).

MIROIR MIROIR

Images as mirrors of the world, of others and of ourselves.

To mark the 200th anniversary of the invention of photography, this edition explores the power of images to confront us with ourselves and with others.

Excerpt from the BIP2026 artist’s statement

“Since its invention two centuries ago, photography has held up a mirror to humanity, in which everything about us is reflected. It has profoundly transformed the conditions of self-representation, influenced other artistic media and revolutionised the genre of portraiture – the mirror-like genre par excellence.

Photography is a means of promoting difference and diversity, just as much as it is a vehicle for narcissism, identity, or social and police control. It plays a role in social cohesion, bringing us closer to one another and preserving memory, but it also contributes to social fragmentation and the creation of hierarchies, not least by accentuating our egos.

Amidst this profusion of representations that have surrounded us for 200 years, and faced with the reality of a violent shift in which forms of supremacy are asserting themselves everywhere, BIP2026 will test the hypothesis that we can still look at one another (even if we cannot understand or love one another), in a precarious position and within fragile balances that must constantly be re-established.

Photography possesses an immediate and infinite genius for revealing our own facets and those of others. The portrait, in particular, has this ability to place us face to face with otherness as if before a mirror, yet without this position ever being fixed or static; on the contrary, it embraces agitation and disorder. We shall therefore leap from one position to another, to be dazzled by our constant and necessary reinvention.

“What if everything fell into place once we accepted that nothing fits together?”
Anne-Françoise Lesuisse, artistic director

This year, in keeping with the theme that positions the image as a mirror reflecting both the individual and collective action—in a constant back-and-forth between the self and the other, between identity and diversity, between heterogeneous fragments and the assembly of a whole—we bring together, one after the other and side by side, five different aspects of this question.

Aller de pair – Artists selected by BIP

Several artists will contribute to the exhibition itinerary, exploring how photography (as a way of seeing rather than a technique) enables us to observe and reflect on individuals in the way they come together (or not), to form families, communities or groups of varying sizes, whether on a lasting basis or for the duration of an Instagram post, in a state of balance or disruption.

To begin with, the mirror represents not only symmetry and face-to-face encounters, but also what lies ‘off-camera’ – the hidden aspects or the different stories that can be told simply by changing one’s perspective. To open the exhibition, we present three artists who lay bare these truths and remind us that one image always conceals another.

Karel de Cock – Benevolence
Max Pinckers – 2020-MMXX
Aglaia Konrad – Frauenzimmer
Robin Wen – Entremêler and Lumière
Farren van Wyk – Mixedness is my Mythology
Lua Ribeira – Agony in the Garden
Eloïse Brunet & Romain Cavallin – You didn’t know it, but I ran away last Tuesday
Werner Moron – L’âme-Le diable
Karel Martens – Icon Viewer

The 2026 edition of “.tiff”

The diversity and vitality of emerging photography in Belgium

.tiff is a project by FOMU (the Museum of Photography / Fotomuseum, based in Antwerp). Each year, the FOMU supports 10 emerging artists and photographers who live or work in Belgium. Through its exhibition and magazine, .tiff offers a fresh perspective on the various facets of emerging photography, which is constantly evolving, and reflects the diversity, artistic vitality and relevance of the themes in contemporary Belgian photography.

Following the initial exhibition at FOMU, the .tiff exhibition in Liège will enable these young, emerging talents to reach a different audience, in a different context and setting. To select the ten artists, FOMU is working with an external jury which, this year, comprises Magali Elali, founder and artistic director of The Constant Now; Cale Garrido, curator of the Hamburg Photography Triennial; and Youqine Lefèvre, artist and winner of the 2021 .tiff.

The exhibition, curated by Muhiba Botan and Sonia Mutaganzwa, presents the work of Chloé Azzopardi, Téo Becher, Aliki Christoforou, Yaqine Hamzaoui, Tatjana Huong Henderieckx, Simen K. Lambrecht, Tom Lyon, Natalie Malisse, Anthony Ngoya and Darwin Taday Cabrera.

Through the Looking Glass

Following a call for proposals on the theme of disinformation, four curators unpack and explore, through their projects and artistic selections, the complex issue of manipulated or generated images in relation to our understanding of knowledge, evidence and belief.

The four young curators Silas Edwards, Fanny Testas, Thibaud Leplat and Temitayo Olalekan were selected following a call for applications launched on the initiative of the German Embassy, the French Embassy, the Goethe-Institut Brussels, the Alliance Française de Bruxelles Europe and the Institut français (a project realised with the support of the Franco-German Cultural Fund).

The execution of the Doge Marino Faliero, a figure of empathy and entropy

The execution of the Doge Marino Faliero, a figure of empathy and entropy is an arrangement of portraits (across all media, eras and dimensions) within a installation designed and curated by Tanguy Poujol. The portraits were collected following a wide- ranging international call for submissions on our social media platforms and supplemented by works from invited artists, as well as a selection from the collections of the Musée de la Photo in Charleroi, the collections of the Province of Liège and the Province of Liège Foundation for Art and Culture.

ANIMALS

Animals is an exhibition designed for young visitors and families, based on the pages of Lous Martens’ Animal Books – a rich, eclectic bestiary conceived by a grandfather to mark the birth of his grandchildren, created using images of animals cut out from magazines, newspapers, encyclopaedias and so on. A tribute to illustrative photography and its infinite variety.

THE OFF

The OFF programme of the Biennale de l’Image Possible brings together over 30 exhibitions, both large and small, which revolve around the main exhibition. To be discovered across the cultural landscape of Liège and its surroundings – stretching from Flémalle and the city centre all the way to Maastricht – these independent artistic projects enrich and complement the Miroir Miroir programme, making BIP2026 a true celebration of the visual arts throughout the city and beyond.

Saturday, Oct 17, 2026, 4 pm
Opening reception
Doors open at 4 pm, free entry and access to all exhibitions until 6 pm; a special opening speech for Animals at 5:30 pm; grand opening of BIP2026 at 6:30 pm, with a speech, drinks and zakouskis – doors close at 8:30 pm.

Wednesday, Dec 2, 2026, (time to be confirmed)
Round-table discussion on disinformation (en)
attended by the project’s four guest curators and the French and German Ambassadors to Belgium, accompanied by a continuous screening – running until the following day – of the film A Bunch of Questions with No Answers (Alex Reynolds with Robert M. Ochshorn, 2025, HD video, 23 hours 10 minutes, 2025 – a proposal by Temitayo Olalekan).

Thursday, Dec 3, 2026, 6 pm
Lecture (en)
by Brigitte Van den Bossche, director of the non-profit organisation Les ATI, The creation of picture books as a means of passing on knowledge to children. Focusing on Animal Books.

Friday, Dec 11 & Saturday, Dec 12, 2026
Finissage
including take-over of the BIP2026 spaces by the Liège Performance Club featuring roaming and staged performances, talks and meet-ups.

Further framework program for the Miroir Miroir exhibition: 

During exhibition hours
“Hack Passport” tour
This is a creative journey through the exhibition that explores our identity by creating an alternative passport, step by step. Pay what you wish per person – available at the reception desk.

Sunday, Nov 29, 2026, 1:30 – 3 pm
Sunday Guided Tours (en)
Enjoy a guided tour in English, led by Iseult Dervaux (a member of the BIP team), during your Sunday visit to the Miroir Miroir exhibition. 13€ (pass and guided tour included).
Reservation

Sunday, Nov 22, 2026, 2 – 6 pm
“Come as you are!” Photo Studio
During your visit to Miroir Miroir, have your portrait taken with family, friends, as a couple, with your pet, with your favorite plant, dressed up as a jaja, doing a headstand, standing straight as a stick, or striking a Gen Z pout… Our photo studio, with Robin Nissen at the helm, welcomes you just as you are! You can then download your portrait directly from an online platform and display it above the fireplace. Guaranteed to make a splash this holiday season! Free—no reservation required.

Oct 26 – Dec 13, 2026: Wed – Sun, 11 am – 6 pm
Offer for Groups: Self-guided tour & “Passport hack” tour
Duration: Allow approximately 60 to 90 minutes for the visit. Each visitor receives an admission ticket that allows them to return as many times as they wish. During self-guided visits, participation in the “Passport hack” tour is available for an additional fee on top of the admission ticket. This is a creative activity within the exhibition that explores our identity through the creation of an alternative passport, built step by step.
Self-guided tour: general admission rate (minimum price is €5 per person)
Tickets
“Passport Hack” tour: €20 per group (per group of up to 25 people)
!! Reservations for a self-guided tour with a group (more than 10 persons) are REQUIRED.
RESERVATIONS: kullmann@chiroux.be – 04 220 88 54