BARCELONA.- Manifesta is actively planning its future activities whilst consolidating leading projects from its previous edition. The first Manifesta 16 Ruhr Area expectation workshop took place this year, and efforts are underway for the 2026 edition in Germany. Meanwhile, the Centre for Narrative Practice, established during Manifesta 14 Prishtina, continues to bring a diverse artistic programme to the people of Kosovo.

Lastly, after months of hard work, we’re thrilled to launch our brand-new website for the International Foundation Manifesta, showcasing archival images, videos and more. Experience a fresh look and discover everything you need to know about Manifesta and its 30 years of history.

The distinctive strength of Manifesta is to approach certain global critical issues from the viewpoint of a European Host City or Region which, in the case of the 15th edition, is Barcelona and the eleven metropolitan cities. Manifesta takes on the challenge of expanding from a city perspective, as for Manifesta 15 Barcelona, to a regional scale of 5.1 million inhabitants in the commitment to develop a decentralised and collaborative approach to cultural production.

After a year of pre-biennial research conducted across the region, Manifesta commissioned ten artistic collectives to explore on a metropolitan scale, local alternative narratives and challenges, dominating global discourse most prominently: growth and degrowth, the custody of the environment, healing and repairing. This research emerged from a collaborative process involving workshops, community programmes, scientific investigation, and archival studies on topics ranging from historical pedagogical movements to eco-feminism and biodiversity. The findings of this collective research are presented in an ongoing visualisation at the Gustavo Gili building, Manifesta 15’s headquarters.

Using the pre-biennial research as the departure point, the programme of Manifesta 15 will be showcased across three clusters in the metropolitan region

The Manifesta 15 clusters bring together projects at multiple venues in multiple cities around three leading themes of the biennial: Imagining Futures, Cure and Care, and Balancing Conflicts. The journey of each cluster commences at an extraordinary exhibition venue which symbolises its overarching theme. The monumental Tres Xemeneies (Three Chimneys) located on the coastline in between Barcelona, Sant Adrià de Besòs and Badalona will host the departure point for the theme of Imagining Futures. Opened for the first time to the general public, the venue will showcase artistic interventions in the turbine hall and in the outdoor areas. The Monastery of Sant Cugat, a historic symbol of spirituality and reflection, will be the principal venue for the theme Cure and Care. Lastly, Casa Gomis, a privately owned villa built following the rationalist architectural principles, situated in the natural landscape of El Prat de Llobregat near the Barcelona-El Prat Airport, will be where the theme Balancing Conflicts will commence.

The former Gustavo Gili publishing house, in Barcelona, will function as the nucleus of Manifesta 15, presenting archival projects which focus on the colonial past and its repercussions, the counter-culture movements during the rise and fall of the Franco dictatorship and the Catalan educational renewal histories.

The biennial programme in each of the participating metropolitan cities will include interventions, exhibitions and projects in emblematic venues proposed by the local artistic representative. In dialogue to this programme, Manifesta 15 has invited leading international biennials and cultural organisations to collaborate together in co-producing or showcasing prominent works from their recent commissions. In addition to the array of venues per metropolitan city, each city will also host a festive Focus week spanning across the 12-week biennial period. The Focus week will celebrate the local cultural wealth of the city and will include a specific public programme commissioned for Manifesta 15.

Manifesta 15 Artistic Team

The collective democratic approach in research is reflected in the curatorial strategy of the biennial programme developed by the Artistic Team of Manifesta 15. The team is comprised of Manifesta 15’s Creative Mediator Portuguese curator Filipa Oliveira, eleven artistic representatives from the eleven metropolitan cities, Ariadna Amat Garcia (Badalona), Penélope Cañizares Bellido (Cornellà de Llobregat), Cristina Castells Tort (El Prat de Llobregat), Raquel Morcillo (Granollers), Mireia Mascarell (L’Hospitalet de Llobregat), Gisel Noè (Mataró), Óscar Abril Ascaso (Sabadell), David Linares Ramos (Sant Adrià de Besòs), Joan González Cano (Santa Coloma de Gramenet), Andreu Dengra Carayol, (Sant Cugat del Vallès), Imma Vilches García (Terrassa) and Manifesta’s director, Hedwig Fijen.

In addition to the transdisciplinary programme that will be brought together by the Manifesta 15 Artistic Team, institutional collaborations with key cultural organisations in Barcelona are being developed.

Manifesta 15 Participants

Following the framework sketched out by the pre-biennial research, local and regional cultural individuals and organisations have been invited to become part of Manifesta 15 as participants. 10 projects, out of 250 projects submitted, were selected by a jury through an Open Call. The selected participants are Claudia Pages, Jokkoo Collective, La Casa dels Futurs, Lola Lasurt, Matias Daporta, Metropolis, Nora Ancarola, Rosa Tharrats & Gabriel Ventura, Tornen les Esquelles and Transductores. The final extended list of Manifesta 15 participants will be published in Spring 2024.

Essential to Manifesta’s newly adopted democratic methodology is that regional cultural eco-systems benefit from and closely collaborate with Manifesta 15 in composing the biennial programme. Throughout Manifesta 15’s approach, local perspectives and histories are intertwined through the programme which promises for the upcoming edition to be an in-depth exploration and celebration of the region.

Manifesta 15, the European Nomadic Biennial
September 8th, 2024 - November 24th, 2024
Barcelona and its larger Metropolitan region in Catalonia