Delving Into Manifesta 11: The European Biennial of Contemporary Art
On 11th June 2016, Manifesta 11 will open in Zurich under the title What People Do for Money: Some Joint Ventures. Preparations for the large international art exhibition are complete. The new productions, which as the result of encounters between international artists and representatives of Zurich-based occupations, are taking form. For example, the Catalan artist Carles Congost is working with the Zurich Fire Brigade to produce a film, Simply the Best, which will address the differences between a vocation and wage labour. Maurizio Cattelan is working together with a Paralympic athlete. Teresa Margolles with a transsexual sex worker, Marguerite Humeau with an engineer for robotics and Shelly Nadashi with a literature teacher. Another of the participating artists, French author Michel Houellebecq, has teamed up with a doctor to present Manifesta visitors with a meticulous evaluation of his health.
The 30 new productions follow the format of a joint venture between the artists and their chosen ‘hosts’ who are representative of different occupations. The results of these encounters will be exhibited at the hosts’ respective workplaces, the so-called satellite venues, as well as at the main Manifesta venues in well-known Zurich art institutions such as Migros Museum für Gegenwartskunst and Helmhaus. Starting with the first project taking place in June, the new Manifesta productions are being installed one by one at the satellite venues by the hosts and their friends.
Each of the artistic projects will be exhibited in three different ways: at a satellite venue, in a classical art institution and in the form of a film screened at the Pavilion of Reflections. The exhibition, titled The Historical Exhibition: Sites Under Construction, comprises of over 100 pieces and was co-curated by Christian Jankowski, the Chief Curator for Manifesta 11 together with English curator Francesca Gavin. The Historical Exhibition: Sites Under Construction will take up and explore the various ways in which current and historical working worlds have been portrayed in art.
Furthermore, the Cabaret Voltaire nightclub, Zurich is undergoing a radical architectural change to become a guildhall for artists. On the facade, a new plastic bay window will signal the transformation of the historical building, from which Dadaism emerged 100 years ago. The building’s interior, in keeping with the theme of the biennial, will be turned into an office building to reflect the growth of European’s urban working worlds.
The biennial was founded by a desire to explore the psychological and geographical territory of Europe, with the eleventh Manifesta continuing to provide a dynamic platform for cultural exchange throughout the region. “Putting together a Manifesta in Switzerland, a country that – through its system of direct democracy, high standard of living and protectionist foreign policy – is said to have achieved an almost idyllic character,” says Hedwig Fijen, Founding Director of Manifesta, “can feel quite surreal, at a time when Europe is confronted with the most dramatic humanitarian crisis since the Second World War.” Each edition of Manifesta reacts to the diversity of social, political and geographical conditions in contemporary Europe. Since the first Manifesta twenty years ago, the initiators have always placed critical thought, scientific research and artistic experimentation in the foreground.
Manifesta 11
11 June to 18 September 2016, Zurich
The image of Paulina Olowska’s The Tychy Plant (2013), © Paulina Olowska and Manifesta 11, was commissioned by Rhizome.
