Curatorview [Alfredo Cramerotti]

Announced September 2009

Manifesta 8, the European Biennial of Contemporary Art

Manifesta 8, the European Biennial of Contemporary Art, will take place in 2010 in the Region of Murcia, Spain, in dialogue with Northern Africa.

The curatorial team of Manifesta 8 is composed of:
ALEXANDRIA CONTEMPORARY ARTS FORUM
CHAMBER OF PUBLIC SECRETS
TRANZIT.ORG

Manifesta 8 taking place in the Spanish cities of Murcia and Cartagena in 2010, will be curated by Alexandria Contemporary Arts Forum, Chamber of Public Secrets and Tranzit.org as the three collectives, who will together form the curatorial team of the next edition.

In keeping with Manifesta’s aim to experiment with innovative curatorial models and methodologies, no individual art professionals were considered for the position of curator of Manifesta 8. Instead, curatorial groups, artistic and interdisciplinary collectives and/or existing institutions were invited by the Board and the Director of the International Foundation Manifesta to propose a new working model for Manifesta 8. In doing so, the Board wishes to initiate a transcontinental collaborative strategy, connecting regions and institutions located around the Mediterranean.

Opening on October, 2010, and continuing through the autumn in the Region of Murcia (Spain) in dialogue with Northern Africa, Manifesta 8 will explore the idea of Europe in the 21st century, focussing on the boundaries of the continent, and thus strengthening its international and intercontinental character. More specifically, the aim of Manifesta 8 will be to engage with Europe’s present-day frontiers and its interrelation with the Maghreb region.

As with each edition, the newly appointed curatorial team will develop Manifesta 8 in close collaboration with the permanent team of the Amsterdam based home offices of Manifesta together with local producers in Murcia and Cartagena.

Inherent to Manifesta’s nomadic character is the desire to explore the psychological and geographical territory of Europe, referring both to border-lines and the notion of nationality. This process aims to establish closer dialogue between particular cultural and artistic situations and the broader, international fields of contemporary art, theory and politics in a changing society.

ALEXANDRIA CONTEMPORARY ARTS FORUM
Curator/Team Executive: Bassam El Baroni
Associate Curator: Jeremy Beaudry
Alexandria Contemporary Arts Forum (ACAF), founded in Alexandria (Egypt) in December 2005, focuses on contemporary art, new media and discursive practice, cultivating a deeper awareness of art in relation to all aspects of contemporary life and culture. Central to its mission is an ongoing engagement with projects that bring together established and emerging artists, university students, and diverse practitioners, in contexts that recognize the value of an informal, non-hierarchical, open-ended circulation of information and experience. The ACAF is in a constant state of flux and incorporates innovative activities, guided by its socio-cultural compass.

CHAMBER OF PUBLIC SECRETS
Curators/Team Executives: Khaled Ramadan / Alfredo Cramerotti
Chamber of Public Secrets (CPS), based in Copenhagen (Denmark) and the Middle East, works as a network of artists, curators and thinkers who have been collaborating since 2004 in the organization, production and circulation of film and video festivals, art exhibitions, TV and radio programs, political fictions and documentaries. CPS also develops forums for debate and publishes books and articles about socio-political and cultural issues such as migration, mobility, representation, colonialism, gender and difference. CPS wishes to stimulate the role of debate, while reconstructing the role of art, its responsibility and its relation to society.

TRANZIT.ORG
Team executive: Vít Havránek
Team assembly: Zbyněk Baladrán, Dóra Hegyi, Boris Ondreička, Georg Schöllhammer
tranzit.org is a network of autonomous art associations, existing since 2002 in Austria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia, who cooperate working across borders – between nations, languages and histories. Each tranzit group operates independently from each other, using different formats and methods – such as discursive platforms, exhibitions, publications and research initiatives – but always aiming to generate a deep involvement in the local artistic and intellectual context. At the same time each tranzit group carries out a re-assessment of contemporary history, challenging the canons, geography and master-narratives of post-war European (art) histories. The aim of tranzit is to act trans-locally, in constant dialogue with cultural narratives on a local and global scale.

In the next few months the three selected collectives will define a mutual working methodology which will culminate in the concept and realization of Manifesta 8, the European Biennial of Contemporary Art.

Manifesta 8 is an initiative of the International Foundation Manifesta in collaboration with the Comunidad Autónoma de la Región de Murcia (CARM) and Murcia Cultural.
The International Foundation Manifesta is supported by the European Commission Culture Framework program, The Ministry of Education, Culture and Science of The Netherlands.
Sponsors and Collaborators
Government of the Autonomous Region of Murcia · City Council Murcia · City Council Cartagena

Hedwig Fijen, Director
International Foundation Manifesta, Amsterdam