Stunning Venues Announced for Manifesta 15 Barcelona
Each of three main locations is responsible for a different theme: 'Imagining Futures', 'Cure and Care', and 'Balancing Conflicts'.
Monastery of Sant Cugat. Courtesy Manifesta 15 Barcelona / Mané Espinosa Ajuntament de Sant Cugat.
Manifesta has offered insights into its forthcoming edition, which will present three themes at locations in and around Barcelona from 8 September to 24 November 2024.
The principal venue for 'Cure and Care' is the Monastery of Sant Cugat (pictured top), whose origins date back to the ninth century.
'Imagining Futures' will centre around Tres Xemenies (The Three Chimneys), which are situated on the coast between Barcelona and Badalona. The chimneys were built in the 1970s as part of a now disused thermal power station.
'Balancing Conflicts' commences from the privately owned villa Casa Gomis, which was designed by Catalan architect Antonio Bonet and completed in 1963.
The former Gustavo Gili publishing house in Barcelona will serve as the exhibition's central hub.
In a statement, Manifesta said essential to its methodology 'is that regional cultural ecosystems benefit from and closely collaborate with Manifesta 15 in composing the biennial programme.'
That philosophy is reflected in the biennial's artistic team, which comprises director Hedwig Fijen, Portuguese curator Filipa Oliveira, and 11 representatives from 11 municipalities in the Barcelona urban area.
Ten projects were selected from an open call that received 250 submissions. They include the sound art group Jokkoo Collective, international climate justice centre La Casa dels Futurs, and Transductores, a project that interweaves cultural production and political intervention.
A full list of Manifesta 15 participants will be revealed in Spring 2024.
Manifesta 14 took place in Prishtina, Kosovo in 2022. After Barcelona, the nomadic biennale will move to Germany's Ruhr Area in 2026. —[O]