Manifesta 15 Barcelona Metropolitana Announces Its Full Participant List and Its Extensive 80-day Programme

Image: Casa Gomis, El Prat de Llobregat. Photo © Nomad Studio.

Manifesta 15
Barcelona Metropolitana
September 8, 2024 – November 24, 2024
manifesta15.org

The 15th edition of Manifesta, the European Nomadic Biennial, opens its doors to the public on Sunday the 8th of September 2024, unveiling a multi-disciplinary programme in and around landmark venues that channel the past, present and future of the metropolitan region of Barcelona. This upcoming edition will present works by 85 participants (individuals and collectives) in 16-plus venues in 12 cities.

Manifesta 15 is the edition with the largest geographical scope in the biennial’s history. The edition’s extraordinary breadth responds to the prompts that the biennial received from Barcelona, together with 11 cities in the metropolitan region, in their Bid to host this edition. The Bid called for an edition that contributes to re-envisioning the roles of the areas outside of Barcelona’s historic core while also exploring how the relations between the metropolitan region’s built and natural environments could be improved, especially with regards to the rivers, mountains and sea. With these prompts in mind, Manifesta 15 inquires not only into the urban, environmental and political challenges that the metropolitan region must confront, but also how these challenges reflect those that affect communities elsewhere in Europe and beyond.

Marking the biennial’s 30th anniversary, Manifesta 15 transcends the conventional biennial model by virtue of its focus on emerging and experimental production methodologies and decision-making processes. This edition draws on, amongst other sources, insights yielded from archival research and input given during public assemblies that Manifesta organised with residents from across the metropolitan region. The outcomes of this pre-biennial research process informed the development of the conceptual framework for the Manifesta 15 programme. This framework calls for a programme that engages how, by rethinking the social contract, we can conceive new ways to live more harmoniously with the natural environment – and vice versa. To test what a so-called ‘eco-social transition’ could mean, Manifesta 15 has invited participants with a multitude of backgrounds and expertise to create site-specific projects and time-based artistic interventions.

The Manifesta 15 programme spans 12 cities in the metropolitan region. The programme is organised in three clusters, which are both thematic and geographic: Balancing Conflicts (Llobregat Delta), Cure and Care (Collserola Mountain Range and the Vallès area) and Imagining Futures (Besòs River and the northeastern coastline). Over the course of the biennial, Manifesta 15 will organise Focus Weeks in each of these cities, honing attention on them and the portion of the biennial programme taking place therein. To celebrate the start of each Focus Week, the Manifesta 15 Mobile Venue will pop-up on the spotlighted city’s main square, hosting accessible and informative events and activities in partnership with the local municipality. This Mobile Venue, built in collaboration with the students of the IAAC (Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia), will act as a cultural hub and communal space. Furthermore, deeply situating Manifesta 15 in the metropolitan region’s cultural ecosystem, the participation of local actors will be amplified by the Manifesta 15+ (plus) programme. Curated and implemented by artistic representatives from the eleven host metropolitan municipalities, this programme will both introduce new projects and celebrate already-existing festivals and events, placing culture at the forefront of metropolitan life for the 80 days of Manifesta 15.

The biennial will invite visitors to take at least one of the Manifesta 15 parcours (routes), which will guide visitors to and through iconic Catalan architectural and historical spaces, including several that have previously been inaccessible, such as the Three Chimneys (Sant Adrià de Besòs) and Casa Gomis (El Prat de Llobregat). Demonstrating the power of the arts to embrace, stimulate and catalyse social transformation, these spaces will host an array of Manifesta 15 participants, 42% of which have either created newly-commissioned work or adapted projects especially for the biennial. In addition, in a sign of Manifesta 15’s commitment to promoting local perspectives, 36% of the participants are local.
Manifesta 15 will also offer specialised itineraries so that visitors can orient their experience around the biennial’s different themes and with respect to their preferred mode of transportation. To enhance the visiting experience, Manifesta 15 also has dedicated mediation offerings. Together with the visitors, the diverse team of Barcelona-based mediators will encounter the works on view through a variety of lenses, including urban, environmental and political.

Tickets for Manifesta 15 Barcelona Metropolitana are already available for purchase online. Manifesta 15 is pleased to offer a range of ticket packages, including special deals for those buying in bulk as well as a variety of discounts, in an effort to make the programme available to everyone.