Manifesta 7 has been supported with a generous grant from OCA's International Support Programme. A portion of this grant is provided by 03–funding*.
Manifesta, the itinerant European Biennial, is hosted this year by the Trentino – South Tyrol Region from July 19 to 2 November, 2008. Stretching across an entire regional territory, the project encompasses venues in four cities: Fortezza, in Valle Isarco, ex-Alumix in Bolzano, the Palazzo delle Poste in Trento, and Manifattura Tabacchi and ex-Peterlini in Rovereto.
Three curatorial teams realize Manifesta 7, each as an autonomous curatorial unit. Raqs Media Collective, formed by Jeebesh Bagchi, Monica Narula & Shuddhabrata Sengupta and former residents of OCA's International Studio Programme (ISP) in April 2008, presents their curatorial project for Manifesta 7 as The Rest of Now at ex-Alumix, a former aluminum factory located in Bolzano. To include individual projects by Anawana Haloba Hobøl, Kristina Bræin, and the architectural team of Reinhard Kropf & Siv Helene Strangeland.
Within the location of ex-Alumix in Bolzano, Anawana Haloba Hobøl (b. 1978 in Zambia, lives and works in Oslo, Norway) will present The Air Between Two Women – a new sound installation that the artist describes as a conversation between the Italian artist Francesca Grill and Hobøl, as ''a collection of fragments reflected as a mental residue of their respective pasts''. Kristina Bræin (b. 1955 in Oslo, Norway, lives and works in Oslo) creates a site-specific installation for the former aluminum factory, entitled The Problem of Functionality, a project the artist describes as ''approaching the human softness and human scale amid the raw and huge spaces of the abandoned factory''. The architectural team of Reinhard Kropf (b. 1967 in Gleisdorf, Austria, lives and works in Stavanger, Norway) and Siv Helene Strangeland (b. 1966 in Stavanger, Norway, lives and works in Stavanger) also present a specifically developed project for the space in the form a project entitled The Naked Garden which synthesizes ''the possibilities for physical, biological, and climatic transformation in an effort to initiate resonance and evocative relations between the natural and cultural/political spheres''.
In the city of Rovereto, Manifesta 7 curator Adam Budak, OCA's International Visitors Programme guest in October 2007, curates Principle Hope – a project located in two separate spaces – the ex-Peterlini industrial building and the Manifattura Tabacchi. According to Budak, Principal of Hope ''is focused on mapping and analyzing the (cultural and political) ecology of space and its public-ness''. Within Budak's project, Knut Åsdam (b. 1968 in Trondheim, Norway, lives and works in Oslo, Norway) realizes a two part project which, according to the artist ''spans from architectural installation to the cinematic in a hybrid installation that encompasses a large narrative architectural environment build from architectural quotes of public or semi-public spaces within a city, and a film projection that finds its place within the installation''.
In Trento, the third part of the Manifesta 7 curatorial team, Anselm Franke & Hila Peleg curate their contribution entitled The Soul (or Much Trouble in the Transportation of Souls). According to the collaborative curatorial team, ''this project proposes to examine today's Europe not as an expanding geopolitical entity but in regard to the engineering of its psyche or soul''. Among the exhibiting artists are: Rosalind Nashashibi, Barbara Visser and Peter Coffin.
All six curators will collaborate on a fourth venue within Fortezza in the vale of Isarco with a project that departs from the idea ''of how imaginary scenarios shape our understanding of history and possibility to explore the concept 'immaterial dimension''. Harun Farocki, Saadi Yousef and Michael Snow are among the participating artists.
Among special projects for Manifesta 7, Raqs Media Collective invites Elisabeth Byre (b. 1971 in Oslo, Norway, lives and works in Oslo), as part of CuratorLab, a research based curatorial residency programme organized by Konstfack in Stockholm, Sweden to participate in Manifesta 7. CuratorLab's project is entitled Hot Desking: Four broadsheets, Four cities, Four Events. Additionally, Espen Sommer Eide (b. 1972, in Oslo, Norway, lives and works in Bergen, Norway) will present the performance entitled Building Instruments, to be realized 12 September. During the performance, the artist will construct a work integrating vinyl records obtained at local shops or donated by the public of Manifesta 7.
For accreditation for the press preview, please contact Alessandra Santerini, Head of Comunications, at press@manifesta7.it . For professional accreditation, please contact professional@manifesta7.it. For planning and organizational aspects of a visitor's trip, click here. For press inquiries please refer to press@manifesta.it". Please refer to manifesta7 for further information or contact OCA at info@oca.no.
*03–funding: The purpose of the 03–funds as allocated by the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairsto OCA is to further develop cooperation and professional networking between OCA and the constituency of artists, independent cultural producers, and organizations that are located in designated countries or associated with 03–countries. This includes but is not limited to 'professional research visits by cultural producers, artists, and curators', 'short-term residencies for cultural producers and artists', 'the development of seminars, conferences, art projects, workshops, etc. that focus on the further development of professional exchange and networking between and among countries', 'project development and 'pilot projects' on an international scale."
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