++++ Significant events make themselves felt long in advance. In the case of Manifesta 4 this takes place in the form of a newsletter. The first issue is devoted entirely to the not uncontroversial venue of Frankfurt, a metropolis which is regarded as a centre of urbanity, but which also has to struggle against quite a negative image. The Manifesta makers, Iara Boubnova, Nuria Enguita Mayo and Stephanie Moisdon Trembley have taken on the special character of the location as a challenge. And so they are not shy to engage critically with the specific aspects of the venue for the exhibition right at the beginning of their preparations. The basis for this is provided by Heinz Schilling's portrait of the city which appeared in 1998 and is here published once again. The professor at the Institute for Anthropology and European Ethnology at Frankfurt's Johann Wolfgang Goethe University outlines the ambivalent image of the metropolis on the Main in his solidly researched text based on surveys of the populace who regard the city as either a demon or a darling, depending on their standpoint. If originally the geographical and economic situation was the decisive factor for the Manifesta committee’s decision in favour of Frankfurt, in the meantime the existing cultural infrastructure, which is unique in Germany, is also regarded as a particular advantage for the long-term experiment, Manifesta. The art fair, Art Frankfurt, is already positioning itself in Manifesta's slipstream by rescheduling its fourteenth recurrence in the coming year by one month. The trade fair organizers' reasoning (in this order!) runs as follows: like Art Frankfurt, as a European biennial Manifesta also endeavours to react to current trends in contemporary art and to expand cultural discourse. For this reason the organizers have co-ordinated dates with the initiators of Manifesta and in this way "can offer the same target group two highlights on one occasion".
Exhibition: 25 May - 25 August 2002. Newsletter on the internet at www.Manifesta.de