Manifesta 14 Prishtina Announces Conceptual Framework, Participants List and Venues

Credit: Grand Hotel Prishtina – Manifesta 14 – Photo by Atdhe Mulla

Manifesta 14 Prishtina
July 22, 2022 – October 30, 2022
https://manifesta.org

Manifesta 14 is pleased to share the list of venues and preliminary participant list for the forthcoming biennial. Revolving around four central pillars, the programme works to transform the biennial model into a participatory and collaborative catalyst for social change. With the 14th edition, Manifesta has shifted its focus from temporality to consistency, from an ephemeral exhibition event to creating a more sustainable, inclusive practice. This new structural approach will be evaluated throughout the biennial and potentially implemented as a model for future Manifesta editions.

Prishtina, one of the youngest capital cities of Europe and the capital city of Kosovo, has become the epicentre of an alternative biennial model. Manifesta’s 14th edition rethinks the relevance of an international biennial in a post-pandemic world. Working collectively with Kosovar urbanists, cultural professionals, artists and thinkers, Manifesta 14 acts as a temporary incubator in the city, a platform for knowledge production and for innovative, participatory practices. The programme serves the needs and interests of Kosovar communities by creating sustainable projects and bringing much needed international recognition to national talent. Manifesta envisages that the artistic and urban interventions will become a catalyst for further urban transformation in the city of Prishtina, aiming to reclaim public space in the long-term.

After two years affected by the pandemic, Manifesta, the European Nomadic Biennial, has intensified its quest to develop more sustainable biennial models, by co-creating long-term structures and ownership of the projects it initiates with, and for, the local Kosovar community. Within Manifesta 14, a key element of this endeavour is the transformation of the former Hivzi Sylejmani Library into the Centre for Narrative Practice: a permanent multi-functional space for the local and regional neighbourhoods and the artistic community. The rethinking of the biennial framework has also led to the creation of Kosovo’s first mediation school, providing training for young people and setting up an infrastructure to continue such practices. With the 14th edition, Manifesta has shifted its focus from temporality to consistency, from an ephemeral exhibition event to creating a more sustainable, inclusive practice. This new structural approach will be evaluated throughout the biennial and potentially implemented as a model for future Manifesta editions.

The 100-day artistic programme of Manifesta 14, entitled it matters what worlds world worlds: how to tell stories otherwise, builds upon the Urban Vision developed by CRA-Carlo Ratti Associati and the findings of Citizens Consultations, a Public Survey and community research conducted in the pre- biennial process. The urgent needs articulated by the citizens of Prishtina include: reclaiming public space, strengthening participatory democracy, extending the cultural infrastructure beyond the boundaries of the inner city, establishing and maintaining spaces for well-being, improving diversity and inclusivity in the cultural fields and making Prishtina greener. Manifesta has translated these findings into artistic, urbanistic, educational and ecological projects which together form the four pillars of the programme

Participants

Participants will present their work at 22 venues across the city of Prishtina. Of the 40 artistic and urban interventions announced today, 32 works have been newly conceived especially for Manifesta 14 Prishtina. The whole programme will bring together 77 participants from some 32 countries, including 17 collectives, 37 participants from Kosovo and an additional 16 from the Western Balkans. Thus, 48% of the participants and collectives are Kosovar, including projects commissioned via the Manifesta 14 Kosovo Projects Open Call, a crucial part of giving representation to the rich cultural world of Kosovo. Please refer to annexe 1 to view the preliminary participant list.

Programme – the four pillars

The four central pillars of Manifesta 14 Prishtina’s programme consists of: the former industrial site of the Brick Factory; the Grand Hotel, an iconic hotel built during the Yugoslav period; the new Centre for Narrative Practice in the former Hivzi Sylejmani Library and a variety of artistic and urban interventions across the city designed to reclaim public space in the long-term. These are woven into a tightly composed parcours, which brings together all the public spaces and events into one cohesive programme, allowing visitors to interact with the stories of the places in which these interventions are shown.

New visitors to Prishtina will discover not only the Manifesta 14 programme but also the city’s vibrancy and fascinating, diverse architecture, whereas residents will hopefully see their city in a new light. The parcours incorporates the public spaces identified by CRA-Carlo Ratti Associati’s Urban Vision as essential public spaces to be reclaimed and regenerated by the citizens. Manifesta 14 has also created a regional parcours, which connects the Prishtina programme to regional cultural partners through the Manifesta 14 Western Balkans Project and establishes a lasting collaborative network.

Manifesta 14 Prishtina venues:

Grand Hotel; Zahir Pajaziti Square; Kino Armata; National Library of Kosovo; the University of Prishtina, Faculty of Philosophy; National Gallery of Kosovo; Gërmia Department Store; Kino Rinia; Centre for Narrative Practice; Adem Jashari Square; Museum of Kosovo; Great Hammam; Foundation 17 Gallery Space; Ethnological Museum; Brick Factory; Green Corridor; Rilindja; Palace of Youth and Sports; Observatory of Prishtina; Private Apartment; Partisans Martyrs Cemetery Monument; Hertica School House.

Please find further information in the press release and appendix here.