Manifesta 13 Marseille Introduces Le Tiers Programme

Image: Stine Marie Jacobsen, Group Think © Stine Marie Jacobsen/ Manifesta

Manifesta 13 Marseille
Traits d’union.s
August 28, 2020 – November 29, 2020
https://manifesta13.org

Proposed by the Education and Mediation team of Manifesta 13, Le Tiers Programme (The Third Programme) is a mediation initiative placing the central curatorial programme in dialogue with the citizens of Marseille. The programme is made up of a set of interrelated research and practice based projects born from encounters with a variety of local actors, ranging from inhabitants to artists, that delve into the histories and present realities of the city. Going beyond institutional categories, disciplinary divisions, Le Tiers Programme brings together projects that are educational, curatorial, research-based, artistic, and accessible to everyone.

At the core of the programme is the notion of voicing the unheard, including multiple histories and unrepresented narratives of the city’s common heritage, giving an insight into Marseille’s contemporary identity and the complexities of its roots. It studies remarkable histories of local resilience and community cooperation across the city. It investigates “universal” cultural canons, in which not everybody recognises themselves. It exercises new forms of community care and citizenship education and extends the notion of mediation as an instrument for decentralising knowledge production.

Le Tiers Programme has its own temporality in relation to the central curatorial programme, launching nearly one year before the opening of all three programmes of the biennial on the 28th of August 2020, and concluding after the biennial closes its doors on the 29th of November 2020.

“Marseille’s power lies in the encounters between different cultures, networks and people, from Sub-Saharan Africa and Northern Africa to Europe’s Greek and Roman culture to the Americas and beyond. Taking into consideration that Marseille is a mosaic of all these influences, and after years of research, critical reflection and intensive discourse, I am proud of the outcome of the multilayered process that resulted in Le Tiers Programme conceived by our Education and Mediation team. Through Le Tiers Programme, Manifesta 13 offers the opportunity to investigate Europe’s contemporary changing DNA through the specific lens of the city of Marseille, its citizens and its geneaologies and hopefully develop inspirational and constructive proposals for a more inclusive, diverse and socially engaged future resulting in a new form of solidarity”.

– Hedwig Fijen, director of Manifesta