06-2004
The Role of the International Foundation Manifesta

Introduction

Manifesta, the European Biennial of Contemporary Art, was initiated, and is supported, by the International Foundation Manifesta (IFM), with offices in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. The IFM aims to create opportunities for artists to present their work in a non-competitive environment and to facilitate the emergence of new ideas and forms of artistic expression. Manifesta explores the entire mental and geographical territory of Europe and aims to establish a close dialogue between specific cultural and artistic situations and the broader, international context of contemporary art, theory and politics in a changing society. To this end, Manifesta has opted for a nomadic existence, relocating its operational base to a different city or region of Europe every two years (1996 Rotterdam, 1998 Luxembourg, 2000 Ljubljana, 2002 Frankfurt am Main, 2004 Donostia-San Sebastian). Thus, it embodies the notion of a constantly expanding network, based on the transfer of 'know how', as a product of work in progress. The concept of Manifesta is re-examined, each time that the biennial moves on to a new city or region. As an outward expression of this process of renewal, the Board of the IFM and its new partners appoint a fresh tem of curators from different parts of Europe, at the start of each new biennium.

The International Foundation Manifesta (IFM), organises and co-ordinates the Network Programme, which is a multi-faceted resource and research programme, encompassing the Manifesta Biennial, the Manifesta Archives and a programme of publications, discussions and related activities, focusing on contemporary art and its role in society.

At the beginning of 2003 the International Foundation Manifesta opened Manifesta at Home in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Manifesta at Home is a knowledge base, which makes the know-how of the Manifesta editions available to the public. The office also functions as the switchboard of the international network, collects data and supports cities hosting the biennium with information and expertise, of all kinds.

Aims and Objectives

The basic rationale for Manifesta in the beginning of the nineties was to create a much needed framework for the dramatic increase in person-to person contacts within the field of the visual arts, a network which could respond flexibly to the changing needs of young artists, and a platform for presenting new work, in fresh ways, to a wide public. Its initial awareness of the need to provide exhibiting possibilities and a wider audience for artists from Eastern Europe has been expanded, to include those countries around the Mediterranean fringes of Europe, which have recently joined an expanded European Union and those countries - notably, in South-East Europe - for whom the prospects of European integration seem farther removed.

In particular, the International Foundation Manifesta seeks to:
Develop and maintain a support structure for a growing number of art professionals (European participants at national level, host cities, lenders, officials, curatorial teams, local organisers, museum professionals and co-organisers, and artists)
Stimulate Manifesta's European network, as a medium for person to-to-person contacts
Stimulate the flow of information between all parties involved in Manifesta through different activities, such as exhibitions, books, catalogues, multi-media activities, workshops, symposia and colloquia.
Make efficient use of new information and communication technology, to ensure that efficient use is made of the information and skills accumulated from successive editions of Manifesta.
Make such skills and information widely accessible to professionals and the general public, through servicing the various offshoots of Manifesta's activities; promote and stimulate interdisciplinary initiatives and in-depth research in all fields of creative endeavour, with particular reference to that of European contemporary art; and develop, in the medium-to-long term an exemplary, IT-orientated, pro-active information resource centre.

Funding

The International Foundation Manifesta is funded by grant-aid from the respective Host Cities, as well as a multi-annual grant of the European Commission, for the period of 2002-2005, for a series of self-initiated, related projects. It has also received substantial contributions, over the years, from a variety of commercial patrons and trusts and foundations, including, for the second time in succession, the German-based Allianz Kultur Stiftung and, for the third time, the Netherlands-based media company Vidi-square. It is also actively seeking support from a number of individual patrons.

Successive editions of Manifesta have been funded by a combination of European, national, regional and local sources, including:

Host Cities, with public funding from national, regional and local sources
European Organisations, such as the European Commission and the Council of Europe
Multi-lateral Organisations, such as the European Cultural Foundation
National Ministries of Culture and national and international Cultural Agencies
Trusts and Foundations
Local Museums and Cultural Organisations
Commercial Sponsors
Own Income (admission and catalogue sales)

History, in brief.

Manifesta grew out of a Dutch initiative to create a pioneering, pan-European platform for the contemporary visual arts. The concept of an itinerant Manifesta first took shape in Rotterdam, in consultation with a specially appointed National Committee and an International Advisory Board (the forerunner of the present International Foundation), and with the support of 30 National Governmental Arts organisations and Ministries of Culture in Europe. The National Committee of the first Manifesta, in 1996, was responsible for developing Manifesta's initial operational and financial framework.

Manifesta 1 was held in Rotterdam, The Netherlands in 16 different museums and 36 public spaces. A team of five curators, from Barcelona, Budapest, London, Moscow, and Paris/Zurich, selected 72 artists from 30 different European countries and five from elsewhere. Total attendance of the event was in the region of 35.000 people, 5.000 of whom attended the opening. 350 accredited journalists and art critics attended the opening and there was a widespread, overwhelmingly positive coverage in national and international media. All the work in Manifesta 1 was made especially for this event and many of the artists presented in Rotterdam where exhibiting outside their own countries for the first time in their career. Many of these artists went on to exhibit extensively in public and commercial galleries in Europe and the US, and to take part in major international events, such as the Venice Biennial. A novel aspect of this exhibition - and subsequent editions of Manifesta - was the emphasis given to collaborative work between artists, curators, representatives of different disciplines and the general public. In the months preceding the opening, the curatorial team responsible for realising the exhibition held a series of 'open' and 'closed houses' in a dozen different cities all over Europe, in which professionals and members of the general public were invited to participate.

Manifesta 2 was held in 1998 in the city of Luxembourg under the patronage of the Ministry of Culture of Luxembourg and included work of more than 47 artists from 35 countries, most of who created new, in site. The three young curators of this event came from Brussels, Paris/Vienna and Stockholm. For the first time Manifesta included a series of international discussions and debates and launched a cumulative 'Info Lab' (the basis of Manifesta's present, growing archive), with up-to-date printed and audiovisual material about artistic tendencies in 30 different European countries - many of them outside the traditional circuit for contemporary art. Another innovative feature of Manifesta 2, which has been further developed for subsequent editions, was the special organisational involvement of 30 young people from all over Europe, in a training programme specially devised for Manifesta. More than 43 European countries participated financially and organisationally in Manifesta 2 in Luxembourg, contributing, for example to the curators' and artists' travel costs and related costs of transport and additional activities. The event was supported by two major international sponsors and over 100 local sponsors. The exhibition catalogue contained up-to-date information about the infrastructure for contemporary visual art in some 30 countries, in all parts of Europe.

Manifesta 3 was held from 23 June to 24 September 2000 in Ljubljana, where work by some 60 artists and groups of artists and urbanists was spread over three principal venues. The four curators of the exhibition and related activities came from Amsterdam, Bratislava, Chicago/Turin and Vienna. Some 10,000 visited the exhibition, including 1,500 accredited journalists and a large proportion of art professionals from far away. For the first time, Manifesta received press coverage in North America (New York Times, Village Voice), but no less important was the high proportion of visitors from neighbouring countries in East and South-East Europe. For the first time, the curatorial team decided to set a theme for the exhibition, which was 'Borderline Syndrome. Energies of Defence' and they solicited contributions to the exhibition catalogue (already a collectors' item), not only from a wide range of Slovenian and foreign intellectuals (philosophers, historians, sociologists and the suchlike), but also from the general public. The nature of the events in Ljubljana reflected, in part, the thriving intellectual life of the city and interdisciplinarity - particularly, the crossover between visual art, cinema and performance, and interaction with new media.

Manifesta 4 was held from 25 May to 25 August 2002in Frankfurt am Main, where the work of 75 artists and artists' groups were presented and a dozen theorists played a mayor role in site-related workshops, discussions and programmes. The project opened one week before Documenta, in Kassel, on 25 May and remained open to the public at 15 different venues and a number of alternative sites in the city of Frankfurt until 25 August 2002. The three women curators came from Barcelona, Paris and Sofia. For this event, they created an extensive digital and physical Manifesta archive, based on their travel and research, in addition to a library called 'Trespassing Space' and an online project called e-manifesta.org. Manifesta 4 benefited from the support of more than 16 sponsors and non-profit organisations, as well as the direct support of more than 40 national arts organisations for the creation of individual artists' projects. Approximately 23.000 visitors went especially to Frankfurt to see the Manifesta 4 exhibition, and a large number of accredited journalists and critics reported about the show.

Some Follow-Up, at the Conclusion of the first four Editions of Manifesta.

Between 1993 and 2002, 15 young European curators from a variety of different backgrounds worked intensively together on the successive editions of Manifesta, developing new forms of collaboration, extending their own, and Manifesta's, networks, act as ambassadors for the event and becoming closely integrated into the international art circuit. Most of these 15 curators have subsequently been invited to curate other biennials and major art events, including the Istanbul Biennial, the Berlin Biennial, the Santa Fé Biennial as well as both directing the Venice Biennale and curating individual sections within it. Almost all these curators have played a major role in art institutions around Europe, either as directors or by taking art in critical debates, writing on theoretical issues, or curating exhibitions.

Much the same might be said for the impact of Manifesta on the subsequent careers of the 261 European artists and artists' groups who have taken part in successive editions of Manifesta, to date. Manifesta provided many of them with their first international exposure and their first opportunity of working collaboratively with fellow artists and curators from a different cultural background, as well as with a young, well-informed and inquisitive public. Over 90% of the artists participating in the four editions of Manifesta have had their work published in the major international newspapers and art magazines. Their work is also being made visible through the Internet, through catalogues and through related publications and promotional material sponsored by Manifesta. Through its activities and multiple contacts in the professional art world, Manifesta is thus able to create many new opportunities for young artists from all over Europe, at a critical point, near the beginning or their careers.

Candidatures to host Manifesta

Candidates to host Manifesta editions in the near future may be cities or regional groupings from any part of Europe, in the widest geographical sense, and are encouraged to contact the office of the International Foundation Manifesta in Amsterdam, at secretariat@manifesta.org for detailed information about the application procedure.

An announcement will be made about the identity of the new Host for Manifesta 6 (2004-2006) at the press conference for the inauguration of Manifesta 5 in Donostia-San Sebastian, on 11 June 2004. However, the field is still open for a few months, up to the end of 2004, to candidates wishing to apply to host Manifesta 7 in the biennium 2006-2008.