Se acerca Manifesta, comenzar a leer

Manifesta Journal #8: Collective Curating


Anticipating the curatorial model of the upcoming Manifesta 8, which will open on October 2, 2010 in the region of Murcia, Spain, Manifesta Journal #8 concentrates on the topic of collective curating.

By appointing the curatorial collectives tranzit.org (Austria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia), Alexandria Contemporary Arts Forum (Egypt) and Chamber of Public Secrets (Scandinavia and Middle East) to form the curatorial team of Manifesta 8 instead of inviting individual art professionals, Manifesta Foundation is stimulating a collaborative work method connecting different geo-political regions, an ethos and objective reflected in MJ#8.

An outstanding group of authors has been invited to contribute to the MJ#8. Within the section Positions, Raqs Media Collective, curators of Manifesta 7's Ex-Alumix in Bolzano, Trentino – Alto Adige, describe their approach towards collectivity and collective work. Vít Havránek, who, together with tranzit.org, forms one of the three curatorial collectives of Manifesta 8, focuses on the micro-politics of curating by characterizing the three components of curatorial activity: theory, practice and reality. In the section Discourse, Katharina Schlieben's essay "The Crux of Polyphonic Language, or the Thing as Gathering" discusses the antagonism and polyphony of the different actors within a collective. Within the section Studies, Mexico City-based curator Magali Arriola gives an insight into the evolution of collaborative practices within several biennials, including Documenta, the Venice Biennale and Maurizio Cattelan`s 6th Caribbean Biennial. The section Mapping features a text by Chamber of Public Secrets, the second curatorial collective of Manifesta 8 contributing to this issue. In their text they provide an overview of active collectives and collaborative artistic activities in Europe. Finally, the section Documents presents the reprint of a historical interview with Jean Leering, former director of the Van Abbemuseum in Eindhoven, in which Leering argues for the importance of working collaboratively.


MJ#8 includes contributions by: Magali Arriola, Jelle Bouwhuis, Chamber of Public Secrets (Alfredo Cramerotti, Rían Lozano and Khaled Ramadan), Vít Havránek and tranzit.org, Jean Leering, Julia Moritz, Paul O`Neill, Alexei Penzin, Raqs Media Collective, Michele Robecchi, Katharina Schlieben, Yulia Tikhonova and What, How and for Whom (WHW).