Feb 11 | Manifesta 8
Murcia chosen as location for Manifesta 8
Dialogue proposed with N. Africa; Hedwig Fijen says it was picked because it forgrounds issues of immigration and water shortage
This week the European biennial of contemporary art, Manifesta, announced that Murcia would be its host region for Manifesta 8 in late 2010.
"We have chosen Murcia because it is a place of transit and crossing of cultures," says Hedwig Fijen, founder and director of Manifesta, "and because it is a region which has two faces two of the most urgent challenges facing humankind, those of immigration and water."
In a statement issued on Wednesday, the International Foundation Manifesta announced that the next biennial would be held as a "dialogue" with North African countries. By including North Africa in the European festival, Manifesta is making a comment on migration and the increasing porousness of boundaries in an age of shortage. The statement says:
"Manifesta aims to constantly reinvent its own curatorial methodology and exhibition model...the aim of Manifesta 8 will be to engage with Europe's present-day boundaries with Northern Africa and its interrelations with the Maghreb region. The South of Spain, specifically Al-Andalus, has been a historical blend of Islamic, Judaic and Christian cultural influences co-existing together. This is an inspirational organic ground on which the next Manifesta 8 biennale can explore new topologies and journeys.
"The intellectual and artistic context of Manifesta, as well as its social and political issues become more relevant than its economical potential when put in relation to other continents. Common European issues like migration and water are a necessary pre-condition for the existence of a natural as well as an economic system. The Autonomous Province of Murcia is an example of how an European borderline area, positioned in the East of Spain and close to the coast line of Northern Africa, is coping effectively with a growing number of issues, which are also felt and dealt with in the rest of Europe. water and migration are the main issues and also important economic factors, essential for agriculture. The city of Murcia is located 30 miles from the Mediterranean sea and is connected to the shore through the city of Cartagena, the former Roman Cartago Nova, one of the most important Iberian cities of the Roman Empire."
Murcia, a city with a mixed Christian, Jewish and Islamic history, is already home to the Three Cultures Festival which was established to combat ideas of xenophobia and racism.
Dates for the event will be announced soon.
Visit the Manifesta website here.
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