The Manifesta 2024 biennial, one of the most important events in European contemporary art, will celebrate its fifteenth edition in Barcelona and its metropolitan region. Since its creation in the early 1990s, this nomadic event has sought to serve as a bridge between art and society, addressing emerging political, economic and social issues.
The biennial will open its doors to the public on Sunday, September 8, 2024, with a multidisciplinary program that reaches several emblematic venues in the region, presenting works by eighty-five participants (individuals and collectives) in more than sixteen venues in twelve cities.
We know that it may sound a bit scattered all the information about the festival, so that’s why we explain everything you need to know about the Manifesta 2024 Biennial so you don’t miss anything about what we believe is one of the great cultural events of this year in the city.
What is the Manifesta Biennial
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The biennial is a nomadic and decentralized biannual art festival that changes venue every year. The festival usually links art and social reality, and was conceived in the early 1990s as a biennial of contemporary art, as a response to the new social, cultural and political reality that emerged after the Cold War.
When will it be held?
The event will take place from September 8 to November 24, 2024.
Where will it be held?
This year the venue is Barcelona, but as the theme is focused on decentralization and the periphery, the festival proposal was drafted by the Barcelona City Council and supported by 11 cities in the metropolitan region: Badalona, Cornellà de Llobregat, El Prat de Llobregat, Granollers, Hospitalet de Llobregat, Mataró, Sabadell, Sant Adrià de Besòs, Santa Coloma de Gramenet, Sant Cugat del Vallès and Terrassa.
Manifesta 15 is the largest edition in the history of Manifesta, extending over an area of 3,000 km/2, with a population of 5.1 million inhabitants. In addition, this edition is hosted for the first time by 12 cities at the same time.
What topics will be covered
In recent years, numerous factors have had an impact on Barcelona’s urban development. Among these are: the rapid gentrification of the coastline and natural spaces, the use of land for real estate development, the implementation of the Superillas model and the use of land for industrial transformation. The expansion of the city is limited by the natural barriers of the rivers, the sea and the mountains. However, the rural and/or protected countryside is at risk due to the expansion promoted by the economic evolution.
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Barcelona’s intention in participating is to decentralize culture. Manifesta 15 Barcelona Metropolitana seeks to build new ways for social and artistic communities to connect with local infrastructures. By shifting cultural attention to the outskirts of the city and neighboring areas, it fosters collaboration between metropolitan cities.
Manifesta 15 Barcelona Metropolitana is an initiative that aims to promote cultural exchange between metropolitan cities.
What are the highlights of the program?
The program of Manifesta 15 will be one of the most extensive, with works by eighty-five participants (individuals and collectives) in more than sixteen venues in twelve cities.
It is organized in three clusters that are both thematic and geographic: Balancing conflicts (Llobregat delta), Caring and taking care of ourselves (Collserola mountain range and Vallès area) and Imagining futures (Besòs river and northeast coast). Throughout the biennial, Manifesta 15 will organize Focus Weeks or thematic weeks in each of these cities that will be focused on them and on the part of the biennial program that will take place in them.
To mark the start of each Focus Week, a traveling Manifesta 15 venue will be set up in the main square of the city in question, hosting accessible and informative events and activities in collaboration with the local city council. This traveling venue, built in collaboration with students from IAAC (Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia), will act as a cultural center and community space.
In addition, c by consulting the website you can see a map with the extensive program of activities to be held during the duration of the biennial.
How to visit les Tres Xemeneies del Besós and other unique spaces for free?
The biennial will invite the visiting public to take at least one of the Manifesta 15 tours, which will guide them to and through iconic spaces of Catalan architecture and history, including several that were not accessible until now, such as the Tres Chimeneies (Sant Adrià de Besòs), Casa Gomis (El Prat de Llobregat) or the Monastery of Sant Cugat.
The spaces are open to the public from Tuesday to Sunday and you only have to buy the ticket on the web. Although the entrance for these three spaces costs 15 € there are many discounts that allow you to buy the ticket at a reduced price or free.
Manifesta 15 will also offer specialized itineraries so that the public can orient their experience around the different themes of the biennial and with respect to their preferred mode of transportation. To enhance their experience, Manifesta 15 also features specialized mediation offerings. Together with the public, the diverse mediation team will approach the exhibited works from different perspectives, such as urban, environmental and political.
Dates and tickets for the visits are available on the website.
How to buy tickets and how much do they cost?
The general admission to the event has a price of 15€ which gives unlimited access to the activities.
Tickets can be purchased through the website, where various discounts are available.
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