AMSTERDAM.- Manifesta announced that the State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, Russian Federation will be the Host of Manifesta 10. The collaboration between these institutions for the upcoming edition of Manifesta to be held in 2014 celebrates a meeting of anniversaries and shared historical relationships.
The State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg was selected by the Board of Manifesta Foundation because of its critical intellectual and historical relationship with East and West Europe: a uniting principal that is also central to Manifesta, as the single roving European biennial of contemporary art. Manifesta 10 will consider the historical perspective of St. Petersburg's view to the West, and its extensive relationship with Europe at large. Other venues in the city will also participate and further details will be announced soon.
2014 will mark the 20th anniversary of Manifesta, the European Biennial of Contemporary Art, which was initiated in response to the new social, cultural and political reality that emerged in the aftermath of the Cold War. This Jubilee year event will analyse the 25 years of changing realities and experiences as they transformed within this new global world order.
One of the oldest and most prestigious museums in the world, the State Hermitage Museum was founded in 1764 by Catherine the Great as her personal art collection and has been open to the public since 1852. In 2014 the museum celebrates 250 years of existence. The newly renovated General Staff Building, the new premises of the State Hermitage Museum dedicated to modern and contemporary art, will be fully open in 2014, and will be the main stage of Manifesta 10.
Hedwig Fijen, Founding Director of Manifesta comments: We are very excited that the Manifesta 10 jubilee edition will be hosted by the State Hermitage in St. Petersburg. St Petersburg historically bridged the gap between East and West Europe for more than 300 years and from this perspective the collaboration between Manifesta and the State Hermitage is an intriguing source of inspiration. This partnership of Manifesta with its roving nature, its innovative curatorial methodology and experimental artistic practices with such an influential historical museum as the Hermitage is unprecedented and I am sure that it will result in a challenging series of biennial exhibitions.
Prof. Mikhail Piotrovsky, Director General of The State Hermitage comments: The State Hermitage museum is glad to host Manifesta 2014, the year when the Hermitage will be celebrating its 250th anniversary. With the arrival of Manifesta, the Hermitage will highlight its traditions: its roots within the epoch of Catherine the Great and her passion for the contemporary art of her time, and the role that the museum's collections and exhibitions have always played in the artistic life of Russia. We see contemporary art is a natural, albeit intricate, development of these age-old traditions. Therefore, the key moment in Manifesta 10 for us will be the theme of the Hermitage in today's context.
Viktor Misiano, Chair of the Manifesta Foundation, Russian art critic and curator comments: Manifesta was built up as a platform for dialogue in between the East and the West. Reaching St. Petersburg Manifesta will find itself in the country of an extreme European East and in the city that was conceived as its extreme Western outpost. Manifesta has always been seeking new places, their genius, their particularity and their historical, cultural and political complexity. St. Petersburg is a city of the complex cultural and political past and of the present. To do a Manifesta here is a challenge. And that is another strong reason to be present. Manifesta is approaching its 10th edition; its history is short, but it already exists. The Hermitage with its glorious heritage is a coherent place to reflect two “Manifesta decades”.
