Manifesta has announced a collaboration with MVRDV on an interdisciplinary urban study of Marseille and its metropolitan region as the base for the curatorial framework of Manifesta 13. The study will serve as a platform to develop artistic and cultural interventions during the biennial in 2020.

Manifesta successfully introduced architecture and urban studies to the curatorial process of Manifesta 12 in Palermo as visual instruments to understand and unlock the city and to leave a tangible legacy. Manifesta 13 Marseille will consist of an interdisciplinary program of artistic events broadly focused on the areas of art, urban development, contemporary culture, education, theory, research, and mediation. Manifesta 13 Marseille will take place between 7 June and 1 November 2020.

In Marseille, MVRDV will work closely with students from Aix-Marseille University and The Why Factory, a research institute for the future city, founded by Winy Maas in 2008 at TU Delft. The pre-biennial research will be an investigation tool for the next Creative Mediators team and an instrument for the citizens of Marseille to co-create and synergise with the biennial at an early stage.

Winy Maas, co-founder MVRDV:
'As an urban planner I imagine to highlight, enlarge and manifest the potentials, necessities and beauties of Marseille. The urban study will support all artists, makers and designers involved, to show, inspire and enlarge its role and specificity within the archipelago of European cities. Thus, enlarging Europe’s cohabitation and strength.'

Hedwig Fijen, Manifesta Director:
'With the appointment of Dutch office MVRDV as partners in the research process for M13 in Marseille, we hope to get a better understanding of how to implement the biennial in a more inclusive way into the tissues of the host city, considering ways of working such as co-creation, co-production and collaboration with local universities and associations. We believe that by commissioning an architectural office to develop an urban research project anticipating the biennial, Manifesta reaches beyond specific art communities to facilitate a new social commons, and allows commissioned artists, thinkers and curators to operate both within a framework and with freedom of experiment.'

Over the next half year while MVRDV is working on their pre-biennial research, the new team of Creative Mediators will be selected, and will start working on the biennial concept and research. MVRDV will present the results of their study with an intervention in public space in Spring 2019.

About Manifesta:
Manifesta, the European Nomadic Biennial, originated in the early 1990s in response to the political, economic and social change following the end of the Cold War and the subsequent steps towards European integration. Manifesta has developed into a platform for dialogue between art and society by inviting the cultural and artistic community to produce new creative experiences with, and not for, the context in which it takes place. Manifesta rethinks the relations between culture and society investigating and catalyzing positive social change in Europe through contemporary culture in a continuous dialogue with the social sphere of specific place. Manifesta was founded by Dutch art historian, Hedwig Fijen. Each new edition is fundraised individually and managed by a permanent team of international specialists. Manifesta is working from its offices in Amsterdam, Palermo and Marseille.

Manifesta 12 Palermo “The Planetary Garden. Cultivating Co-existence” is open until November 4, 2018 (www.manifesta12.org)

Manifesta 13 Marseille is an association created by International Manifesta Foundation and the City of Marseille. It’s supported by the City of Marseille, the French Ministry of Culture and the Departmental Council of Bouches-du-Rhône.