Liverpool has done much to reinvigorate its arts scene and redefine its status as a cultural centre since its year as European Capital of Culture in 2008. Five years on, the cityscape is changing and this year’s Liverpool Biennial festival featured a programme of art, film, speakers and music.

The one stick in the mud for the Biennial is an installation called ‘Column,’ which intended to project a three mile-high cloud into the sky. This lofty project suffered from delays, setbacks and the pesky problem of physics. It is now due to be completed in the coming months, only half a year later than the Cultural Olympiad for which it was intended.

However, despite the setbacks to the Arts Council-funded project, the ambitious Column was to represent the north west in the Cultural Olympiad, reinforcing Liverpool’s growing preeminence in the landscape of British art. The Biennial festival, which has been held every two years since 1999 attracts over half a million visitors to the banks of the Mersey to view temporary and permanent public art.

Art may not be enough though. The Observer reported on the festival’s attempts to ease the effects of the flailing housing and development programmes that continue to plague Liverpool. However, for a city whose history includes political and economic criticism on all sides, the high profile of arts projects like Column and the success of the Biennial points to the slow but steady realisation of the EU’s objective five years ago: to put Liverpool on the map for its arts and culture.

To read more about Liverpool's status as an culture capital, click here.