02-13-2003
Manifesta 5 in ARCO.
Donostia-San Sebastian will host Manifesta 5 European
Biennal of Contemporary Art.
The City of Donostia-San Sebastián, the Diputación
Foral de Gipuzkoa and the Basque Government together with the
International Foundation Manifesta (IFM) are pleased to announce
that the city of Donostia-San Sebastián has been
selected to host the fifth edition of the European Biennial of
Contemporary Art, Manifesta.
Manifesta, the European Biennial of Contemporary Art, is initiated
and supported by the International Foundation Manifesta (IFM)
based in Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Manifesta, is an itinerant project of contemporary art that
takes place in a different city and region of Europe every two
years. Initially born as an alternative model to the Venice Biennial
and Documenta, Manifesta has become an event that evolves out
of an ongoing discussion among artists, curators, writers, and
thinkers from museums, art centers and cultural institutions
across Europe. The first edition, launched in Rotterdam (1996),
was followed by subsequent venues in Luxembourg (1998), Ljubljana
(2000) and Frankfurt (2002).
The Board of the International Manifesta Foundation selected
Donostia-San Sebastián as the next city to host Manifesta
5 specifically for its complex and multi-layered cultural and
sociopolitical history as well as for its trans-regional importance.
The city, with an increasingly visible cultural identity with
critical initiatives by artists, project spaces, galleries and
institutions, has shown full support for the realization of the
fifth edition of Manifesta.
Also, Donostia–San Sebastián welcomes the project
for the Biennial because it is a challenge for the city. A city
located in the Basque Country, where several new cultural initiatives
have placed the region in a privilege position with regard to
other areas and where active policies are being developed in
the local context of support to contemporary practice. These
will serve as a platform to develop the Biennial and are expected
to launch in an international level through Manifesta.
The Basque region endeavors to develop cultural policies that
reflect an ambitious and integrated cultural and political identity.
Donostia-San Sebastián’s location lends to an exploration
of European culture along new paths and directions, opening a
dialogue between the South and the North of Europe. This reflects
Manifesta’s dedication to investigate new notions of Europe
in all aspects of its activities, including location, board members,
curatorial teams and artistic representation.
The Curatorial Team
Massimiliano Gioni is the artistic
director of the Nicola Trussardi Foundation in Milan. He is also
curating The Zone, a project on Italian contemporary
art for the forthcoming Venice Biennial. Former US editor of Flash
Art, Gioni is also part of the curatorial team for the presentation
of the recent acquisitions of the Deste Foundation. Together
with Maurizio Cattelan and Ali Subotnick, he edits Charley magazine
in New York.
Marta Kuzma is an independent curator
whose previous positions include: Artistic Director of the Soros
Center for Contemporary Art in Kyiv, Artistic Director of WPA,
Washington Project for the Arts/Corcoran, and head of the International
Exhibitions Program at the International Center of Photography,
NY, NY.
The curatorial team has been selected by the IFM Board to develop
a project in Donostia-San Sebastián taking into account
their respective past experiences and perspectives. In contrast
to former editions of Manifesta, the curators will commit an
extended amount of time in Donostia-San Sebastián as to
reflect the particularities of the city, its realities, and cultural
landscapes. Throughout the duration of biennium, the Manifesta
5 offices will be located at ARTELEKU, devoted to exploring contemporary
art and culture.
The Management Team
The Manifesta 5 management team is made up of Lourdes
Fernández as General Coordinator and José Miguel
Ayerza as General Manager who will oversee
the development and execute the Manifesta 5 biennial program.
The Centro Internacional de Cultura Contemporánea
(CICC) directed by three institutions in the Basque region:
the City of Donostia-San Sebastián, the Diputación
Foral de Gipuzkoa and the Basque
Government will support the project. The CICC is a new project
that will be located in the old building of Tabacalera.
On a final note, the International Foundation Manifesta would like
to announce with regret that Paula Toppila, a curator from Helsinki,
Finland, and one of the three curators originally appointed by
the IFM to collaborate on Manifesta 5 in 2004 has taken the decision
to resign before starting work on the project. She has taken this
decision with great reluctance and for entirely happy personal
reasons, which could not have been predicted at the time of the
team’s initial appointment in November 2002. Massimiliano
Gioni and Marta Kuzma have accepted the invitation from the Board
of IFM to continue as a team of two curators who will take the
project to the completion in 2004. The Board of IFM wishes to record
their appreciation of the willingness of these two curators to
assume this additional responsibility and challenge. |
