Manifesta 15 Barcelona Metropolitana Opens This Weekend

The Three Chimneys, Sant Adrià del Besòs. Photo © Manifesta 15 Barcelona Metropolitana | Arnau Rovira

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

Manifesta 15 Barcelona Metropolitana opens on the 8th of September and runs through to the 24th of November, 2024. With the largest geographical scope in the history of the European Nomadic Biennial, this decentralised edition responds to the invitation that the biennial received from Barcelona, together with 11 cities in the metropolitan region, in their Bid. The Bid called for an edition that contributes to re-envisioning the roles of the areas outside of Barcelona’s historic core and explores how the relations between the metropolitan region’s built and natural environments could be improved. With the Bid in mind, Manifesta 15 is an ambitious experiment in how artistic interventions can energise eco-social transformation. The edition 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 other metropolises across Europe.

The heart of Manifesta 15 is the former Gustavo Gili publishing house, located in Barcelona’s L’Eixample neighbourhood. During Manifesta 15, the Modernist complex hosts, amongst others, three newly commissioned archival presentations, which form the historical foundation of this edition. The presentations are titled Fora per fer escola: Radical practices from Catalan pedagogies, Escola de Passats: Barcelona and the radical political imagination and Arxius Negres: Fragments of an anticolonial metropolis, and are organised by the Manifesta 15 Education and Mediation Department, Germán Labrador Méndez and Tania Safura Adam. From the Gustavo Gili, Manifesta 15 spirals out across the metropolitan region. The edition is organised in three clusters, which are thematic and geographic: Balancing Conflicts (Llobregat Delta), Cure and Care (Collserola massif towards Vallès) and Imagining Futures (Besòs River and its surroundings). In these clusters, whose designs are deeply informed by local realities, over 90 participants present multidisciplinary work that expands our understanding of how we relate to one another and the natural resources in our midst. Each cluster is rooted in a leading venue, which symbolically reflects the thematic and is the site of a large group presentation, and extends to other extraordinary venues in the vicinity.

Continuing the European Nomadic Biennial’s transformation into a multilayered and inclusive instrument of civic and cultural engagement on the occasion of its 30th anniversary, Manifesta 15 has several distinguishing characteristics. The first is an overarching commitment to archival research. Barcelona and the metropolitan region have gone through numerous evolutions; as time has passed, various historical movements and methodologies have been overlooked, under appreciated or repressed. Manifesta 15 has inquired into the legacies of a selection of past events and initiatives – not only by consulting existing archives, but also by partnering with specialists to generate new archives. In addition to the presentations at the Gustavo Gili, the Three Chimneys hosts a project that maps the social and industrial history of Sant Adrià de Besòs.

Participatory knowledge production is core to all editions of the European Nomadic Biennial, including Manifesta 15. This decentralised edition draws on, among other sources, input shared during the Manifesta 15 Metropolitan Assembly organised with local residents. This input informed the development of the conceptual framework for Manifesta 15, which approaches how, by rethinking our social contract and what role artistic practices can play in this context, we can conceive alternative ways to live more harmoniously with the natural environment. Furthermore, a significant proportion of the participants – among them artists, activists, scholars and community groups – created their work in situ over a long period and in solidarity with one another. Their doing so gives substance to the biennial’s dedication to forging sustainable, cross-cutting ties between diverse stakeholders.

Throughout, Manifesta 15 closely attends to more-than-human perspectives, including those of Barcelona and the metropolitan region’s rivers, mountains and sea, as well as of the species that reside – often in adverse circumstances – in these environments. In the process, this edition draws attention to how humankind can learn from nature’s resilience while reckoning with how nature’s limits can be better respected – at present and in perpetuity.

Manifesta 15 increases synergies between communities in the metropolitan region that have historically been isolated from one another for myriad structural reasons. The biennial’s doing so flows out of a belief that, by looking beyond themselves, societies can forge new pathways of connection. Visitors to Manifesta 15 will play a fundamental role in this process as well. Given the edition’s scope, no two visits will be the same. As visitors criss-cross the region, they will become agents of change in the decentralisation process, helping to map the region anew. To this end, from one week to the next over its 12-week duration, the focus of Manifesta 15 will shift, with the spotlight falling on each participating city. During these Focus Weeks, the contributions of the biennial’s Artistic Representatives – cultural leaders from each city – will be on full view. The representatives situate the biennial in their cities by organising Manifesta 15+, a programme of performances and happenings that celebrate cultural excellence in the metropolitan region. Please refer to Annexe 3 for additional information about the Focus Weeks and Manifesta 15+.

The European Nomadic Biennial evolves in dialogue with its host communities. For Manifesta 15, the biennial’s modus operandi has been profoundly influenced by the Catalan tradition of cultural egalitarianism. Manifesta 15’s physical decentralisation across the metropolitan region is linked with a democratisation of decision-making, as indicated by the creation of the Artistic Representative position for this edition as well as the spread of responsibilities between the Director, the Creative Mediators, the Manifesta 15 team, the organisers of the archival presentations and the audience – to mention a few essential members of the biennial coalition. To the greatest extent in the biennial’s history, this edition favours diffusion over concentration and empowers collective expression. The results of this vast effort will be critically evaluated during a Manifesta 15 Open Forum that will take place at the end of the edition. The forum will have a reflexive format that corresponds to the topics raised over the course of the edition, and is expected to culminate in the declaration of a Call to Action for sustaining the edition’s legacy based on the many and varied interests of metropolitan residents.

Manifesta 15 Barcelona Metropolitana contains multitudes, helping to solidify alternative networks inservice of eco-social transformation – here, now and beyond.