EMPTY buildings across Liverpool city centre will be turned into pop-up galleries for the Biennial art festival.

The former Rapid Hardware building on Renshaw Street and Chinatown’s dilapidated Scandinavian Hotel are among those being transformed for the 10-week event.

An old bomb site on Duke Street will also be used as the location for an art installation when the festival opens in September.

The sites will form part of the International section of the Biennial, which includes the work of artists from across the globe.

Artistic director Lewis Biggs said: “This year’s Biennial will be bigger than ever before. We have a history of using empty buildings in a creative way and we hope people will be inspired by the works inside.”

A huge coil of metal tubing, resembling an air-conditioning system, will take up the top floor of Rapid’s former home.

Created by Italian artist Rosa Barba, who now lives in Berlin, it will pipe in sounds of the city from outside.

Meanwhile, the building’s entire basement will be filled with three large-scale video installations by US artist Ryan Trecartin.