Manifesta 8

Friday, 18 June 2010

Manifesta 8 has delayed its official opening until 9 October, avoiding a General Strike in Spain.

Since its launch 15 years ago Manifesta has committed its public image to constructing bridges, resisting borders and social blockades in the celebration of artists and creative communities from diverse backgrounds. Manifesta 8 attends to an optimistic dialogue between Europe and the Maghreb region of northern Africa.

Alexandria Contemporary Arts Forum (Egypt), Chamber of Public Secrets (Scandinavia and the Middle East) and tranzit.org (Central Europe), the three curatorial groups responsible for Manifesta 8 have drawn up a range of events from a round of televised debates (including two episodes of a popular talk-show on the Arabic Al Jazeera network), the publication of a 420-page Reader and the fabrication of an "incubator" to research the potential of producing a roving, pan-African biennial.

Situated in the antiquated yet culturally heterogeneous cities of Murcia and Cartagena we can expect work from a profusion of contemporary practitioners in an array of unconventional and suggestive sites including the autopsy pavilion of an 18th Century hospital, the San Antón Prison, an early 20th Century barracks built in the Moorish style, the old watermills on the Segura River in Murcia and the newly constructed ARQUA (National Museum of Underwater Archaeology) designed by Guillermo Vázquez. Silvana Editore will also publish a 320-page general catalogue and a smaller format pocket-guide.

Mercian venues include: Fine Arts museum of Murcia, Centro Párraga, Antigua Oficina de Correos y Telégrafos, Los Molinos del Río Segura Hydraulic Museum and Sala Caballerizas

Caartagenian venues include: Muram – Regional Museum of Modern Art, El Parque Café-Restaurant, Arqua – National museum of Underwater Archaeology and the San Antón Prison.

British artists and artists groups showing include Melanie Gilligan, Otolith Group, Pablo Bronstein, Ryan Gander, Tris Vonna-Michell and Willie Doherty

Other artists include Igor & Ivan Buharov, Simon Fujiwara, Boris Charmatz, Common Culture, Tomáš Vanek, Christoph Euler, Pablo Bronstein and Lou Lou Cherinet

Mainifesta 8 October - 9 January 2011

http://www.manifesta8.es/manifesta/manifesta8.home