Barcelona Llibres

A dozen cities involved and nearly ninety participants who promote ecological and social transformation through their artistic creations and the debates they generate.  This is Manifesta 15 Barcelona Metropolitana, a decentralised event that aims to contribute to rethinking the role of the areas outside the historic centre of Barcelona, to explore how to improve the relationship between the natural and built environments and to turn Barcelona and the metropolitan area into a leading territory in artistic education and mediation.

Manifesta 15 is, in fact, an experiment on the impact of art and creation on their surroundings and the capacity they have to produce ecosocial changes. This time the Biennial focuses on the metropolitan region, but also devotes its attention to seeing how these metropolitan challenges in Barcelona correspond to similar challenges in other metropolitan areas on the continent.

Involved cities are, Badalona, Cornellà de Llobregat, El Prat del Llobregat, l’Hospitalet de Llobregat, Granollers, Mataró, Sabadell, Sant Adrià de Besòs, Sant Cugat del Vallès, Santa Coloma de Gramenet and Terrassa, in addition to Barcelona.  In fact, the centre and the core of Manifesta 15 are located in the building of Editorial Gustavo Gili, in Barcelona’s Eixample. Walk through the rationalist-style building and you can see three exhibitions that set the historical framework for this edition of Manifesta 15. They are: Fora per fer escola: pràctiques radicals des de les pedagogies catalanes (Go outside to teach: radical practise for catalan schools); Escola Passats: Barcelona i la imaginació política radical (Past School: Barcelona and the radical political imagination) and Arxius Negres: fragments d’una metròpoli anticolonial (Black Archives: pieces of an anti colonial metropoli). The presentations have been organised by the Department of Education and Mediation of Manifesta 15, Germán Labrador Méndez and Tania Safura Adam.

From the building of the Editorial Gustavo Gili, Manifesta 15 expands to three thematic and geographic clusters. They are Equilibrant Conflictes (Balancing Conflicts, with the Llobregat delta as a backdrop), Cuidar i cuidar-nos (To take care of, Collserola mountain range towards Vallès) and Imaginant Futurs (Imagining Futures, Besòs river and surroundings).

Spread over these three clusters and the municipalities involved in them, we will be able to see works by more than ninety participants in Manifesta 15. Take notice, because the multidisciplinary works presented aim to broaden our understanding of how we relate to each other and to natural resources.

Manifesta 15 aims to be, therefore, a civic and cultural tool. In this edition, it expresses itself through a specific commitment to archive’s research. You see, therefore, projects such as the one at Editorial Gustavo Gili that talks about the evolution of pedagogy in Catalonia or the colonial city, but also, for example, others such as the one at the Tres Xemeneies that talks about the social and industrial history of Sant Adrià de Besòs.

A second characteristic aspect of Manifesta 15 is the participative production of knowledge, reflected in the contributions shared during the Metropolitan Assembly organised with local communities to prepare the event. The aim is to develop ways of living more harmoniously with the natural environment and, in this sense, the Biennial takes into account non-human perspectives, including those affecting rivers, mountains, the sea and the plant and animal species that inhabit them.

Among the most important themes to be addressed at Manifesta 15 are issues such as the decentralisation of culture, which also affects large European urban areas and of which you will find a good example in this geographically delocalised edition of Manifesta 15;  ecosocial topics, using art, ecology, activism, philosophy, pedagogy or architecture as tools to ask questions and give relevance to the ecosocial problems of the contemporary world or social issues, visible in the programme of archives that will be presented at Gustavo Gili.

With a concept that is linked to the Catalan tradition of cultural egalitarianism and a physical decentralisation that brings Manifesta 15 to the entire metropolitan region, the event is a good example of the democratisation of decision-making. And it conveys its messages through the language of art and creation, thanks to a line-up of artists and collectives ranging from the international collective Embassy of the North Sea to the North American Wu Tsang, as well as the Jokkoo Collective, Lola Lasurt, Rosa Tharrats & Gabriel Ventura, Antoni Miralda, Ana Mendieta, Mónica Rikić and Nora Ancarola, among many, many others.

Finally, remember that each of the cities that form part of Manifesta 15 Barcelona Metropolitana will be the subject of a Focus Week, during which one of their creations and the reflections it provokes will be the focus of attention.

Have you already bought your ticket for Manifesta 15? Each ticket costs 15 € and is valid for twenty days. Tickets will be valid for all Manifesta 15 events, in all cities and for all activities, from 8 September to 24 November 2024.

If you want to know how art and creation can bring about eco-social transformations, come to Manifesta 15 Barcelona Metropolitana, but first check the website for all the information about it.

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