++++ The skyline is black and white, probably taken by an A5 which is highly suited for such a shot. In front of that a field, behind it smog or bad weather and a couple of red arrows from above. The arrows, which are the most striking motif on the posters for Manifesta 4, say ‘there’ and ‘there too!’ and point somewhere. In a way, this is cryptic. In another, it is also an appropriate visualization for the concept for Manifesta 4. The three curators say that Manifesta 4 does not exist at all in the usual sense of the word. And everybody had been waiting to finally find out after a very long period of silence what would be taking place in the three months in which, from the end of May, around eighty artists and artists’ groups will use the city for staging contemporary art.
The three curators, Iara Boubnova, Nuria Enguita Mayo and Stéphanie Moisdon Trembley, as well as the General Co-ordinator, Martin Fritz, have been working for a year in Mousonturm with their staff, but up until now nobody knew much about what they were doing. This was done intentionally in order not to build up expectations, Martin Fritz disclosed. Finally there is a result. In the meantime there have been talks and negotiations with more than one thousand artists all over Europe. Individual projects have been worked out, the city's infrastructure has been examined and integrated, and the venues for presentation have been decided upon. Apart from the established addresses, Schirn, Portikus, Städel and Kunstverein, a large part of the program for the exhibition which takes place biennially in shifting European cities will happen in Frankensteiner Hof, a former administrative building in the Alte Rittergasse in Sachsenhausen.
For the entire duration of Manifesta, the Kunstverein will be available as an information centre and, among other things, provide an opportunity for examining the seven hundred artists’ dossiers. In July, the Städel School will hold a summer camp to which art students from elsewhere will be invited and which already has the internal working title of Woodstock. Portikus is on offer for a small group exhibition, and public space will also play a role. Thus, for instance, Jasper van den Brink will use the River Main for a public display in which he wants to have oranges rising up from the bed of the river, thus turning the river into a mobile sculpture. Other participants such as the Frankfurt group Finger, the archive for present-day art, Revolver, the designers, Bless, and the Construction and Deconstruction Institute will work in areas at the borders between fine art, communication, sociology, urban research, design and journalism. There is no general idea or leitmotif in the classical sense. Instead of that there are slogans such as discourse, discussion and dialogue, the usual things with which art is mostly concerned or supposed to be concerned. In large part, the artists from all over Europe have developed their works especially for Manifesta 4. Many are therefore initiating investigations into their own situation in their works. It is a matter of alienness, identity, of the city as a transit space, of transportation, communication and of course also of finding one’s orientation. Whether Manifesta will become a self-reflective show of sensibilities, or whether precisely these areas can be concentrated into a local, European and global theme remains to be seen. To start with, Manifesta 4 is above all an opportunity to offer a meeting point for an art audience from outside the city for whom it would be worth their while to especially make a visit to the city. The heads of the museums and galleries all know that this is a very rare opportunity and very desirable and perhaps even feasible. After all, cities such as Cassel manage to do it every five years.