First Installation: 09.05.2000 Last update: 09.05.2000
In June 2000, following Rotterdam and Luxembourg, Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia, will host the third edition of Manifesta an art event whose conception isn't associated with the initiative of one country only, since it was originally conceived as a biennial manifestation to be organized in different cities and different countries. Thanks to this basic decision alone, Manifesta has established itself as different from other periodic international art events. Manifesta lays special stress on encounters and socializing, and especially on communication, both among artists themselves and between the different spaces hosting the event and the European or international art scene. The fact that Manifesta is moving across the EU borders for the first time this year which is also one of its initially envisaged features makes this event even more significant, not only for Slovenia but also for all the other ex-socialist countries. It holds out the promise of their gradual integration and involvement in the construction and organization of the art system. No doubt this is also an important event for the western initiators of Manifesta, since the Ljubljana Manifesta will test the productiveness of the concept of establishing closer links among countries, both those within and those across the boundaries of the present EU, by means of contemporary art. It's not by chance that Manifesta III is thematically focused precisely on the problem of the boundary and transcending that boundary. And it's no accident either that the organizers wish for a response from and to communicate with the local art scene. The fact is that the problem of communication or non-communication touches the vital points of the art system's functioning in Slovenia as well as in other transitional countries.
We think it sensible to back Manifesta's curators and organizers in their desire for communication, particularly since communication (polemics, theoretical analyses) is the best way to help ourselves. If Manifesta breaks the current deadlock in dialogue among artists and between artists and theoreticians, then it will play an important and positive role.
In their invitation to dialogue, Manifesta's curators are asking us: "What can you do for Europe?" The answer they expect is therefore an act, unless communication itself is an act. In the sense of making a contribution towards establishing communication, towards the democratization of dialogue, also in the case of a prestigious exhibition such as Manifesta, we propose to produce a parallel catalogue of Manifesta III.
As a rule, reactions to large artistic manifestations are numerous, yet localized and dispersed. Our idea is to gather reactions and present them in one publication, thereby creating a critical mass of viewpoints on Manifesta III. On the basis of exhibits, discussions with participating artists, the exhibition catalogue, and Manifesta's conceptual points of departure we will make a parallel catalogue in which we will try to shed some additional light on the exhibition. Longer introductory texts for this parallel catalogue will be written in advance but other contributions will be prepared after the exhibition opening. These texts and contributions will be written by some 15 artists, critics and theoreticians from different countries around the world whom we will invite to Ljubljana for two weeks to attend the Manifesta show itself and the accompanying and parallel events. Apart from meeting and preparing texts and interviews relating to the exhibition, during these two weeks we will also shape the final image of the catalogue. To this end the invited participants will have at their disposal a suitable place to work, with the basic infrastructure provided. The catalogue itself will be of the same size and of similar volume to the official Manifesta III catalogue. It will be published a month after the opening at the latest, so as to be available during the exhibition, and it will be distributed internationally.
