07-05-2002
Host City: Donostia - San Sebastián

Donostia-San Sebastián the 5th host city for Manifesta

The International Foundation Manifesta (IFM) is delighted to announce that the city of Donostia-San Sebastian in the Basque region in Spain has been chosen to be the 5th host city for Manifesta in2004. The official ceremony of signing will take place on May 7th of 2002 in the Kursaal Auditorium in Donostia-San Sebastián.

The official partners that will work together with the IFM in order to develop Manifesta 5 in Donostia-San Sebastian during the next two years are the Donostia-San Sebastián City Council, the Provincial Council of Gipuzkoa and the Basque Government.

Manifesta, the European Biennial of Contemporary Art, is a nomadic event who's aim is to boost the dialogue between artists and public from different parts of Europe. Manifesta changes its location every two years and it provides young artists that come from different environments with a platform. Each edition offers an opportunity to respond to specific and changing situations of the social, political, economical and cultural scene. At the same time, it gives young international curators, who collaborate with local and external production team, the chance to experience new working methods and ways to communicate with the public. Thanks to its nomadic nature, Manifesta is always obliged to evaluate new realities and to establish dialogues with new partners. This biennial constitutes an open net and emphasizes the value of the collaboration and interactive communication between artists and professionals from all Europe.

During the past six years, this nomadic biennial has moved from its place of origin, Rotterdam (1996), to Luxemburg (1998), Ljubljana (2000) and, this year, to Frankfurt am Main, where the 4th exhibition of the biennial will open its doors on May 24th. In its short life, Manifesta has introduced the European contemporary artistic practice to a new public and it has afforded more than 200 artists and 15 curators the opportunity to cooperate with a wide variety of institutions and people in an atmosphere of experimentation and mutual respect.

Donostia-San Sebastian has been selected to host Manifesta 5 due to its dynamic socio-political situation and its increasing cultural and institutional infrastructure at every level. One of the objectives of this city for the next few years is to offer a stronger support to plastic and interpretative arts, with the aim of adapting them to its compromise with music (specially with jazz), made a long time ago, and with the well known International Film Festival, that will celebrate its 50th anniversary this year. Donostia-San Sebastian belongs to a region with a strong sense of identity and determination to develop coherent cultural policies, as an alternative to social alienation. Every important party of the city and of the Basque Country have shown a strong commitment to the International Foundation Manifesta as co-producers and organisers of the 5th Manifesta biennial edition as an affirmation of their belief in an open society and shared democratic values. On its part, IFM was impressed with the great vitality of the region that includes cities such as Bilbao and Vitoria, capital of the Basque Country. Its geographical position in Southern Europe makes Donostia-San Sebastian a perfect location for the 5th Manifesta. IFM´s long-term strategic aim is to achieve a stronger degree of North - South balance in all aspects of its activities, including location, board members, curatorial teams and artistic representation. Now that apparently some economical and organizational stability has been achieved, International Foundation Manifesta will experience new ways of developing its role in the center of an open network and a platform for trying new ideas and artistic relationships. Its strategic interest in the interactivity and interdisciplinary investigation has given rise to the development of a series of initiatives closely related to the basic biennial exhibition program, that includes the imminent publication of a book on critical reflections, the release of a six-monthly journal, the development of an online archive and the organisation of long-term debates and international workshops for young professionals. In these and other ways, the IFM will seek to build on the strengths of its permanent structure, in the knowledge that it can only continue to survive and flourish through an organised and controlled process of organic change.

In the name of International Foundation Manifesta and the members of the board of directors:

Henry Meyric Hughes (chairman), Francesco Bonami, Chris Dercon, Martin Fritz, Maaretta Jaukkuri, Kasper König, Vicente Todoli, Vasif Kortun, Hans-Ulrich Obrist, Barbara Vanderlinden e Igor Zabel.