Manifesta 2 : Frankfurt, May 24-26, 2002
Art as Social Construction ?
Welcome address, introduction :
Kim Levin, New York, president AICA, art critic Village Voice
Panel :
Iara Boubnova, Sofia, curator Manifesta 4
Sabine Vogel, Berlin, art critic Berliner Zeitung, curator
Jon Mikel Euba, artist, Manifesta 4
Additional independent critic or curator to be announced.
Moderator :
John Peter Nilsson, Stockholm, vice president AICA, art critic NU : The Nordic Art Review
Coordinator :
Christian Chambert, Uppsala, vice president AICA, art critic
There is no theme, no label for Manifesta this time. That is part of the curatorial strategy. But in the introductory text on the web page, you will get an idea about the conceptual path. « The Manifesta 4 Project will reveal the contradictions of the present, the differet ways artists are rethinking the classical relation between time and space in the experience of urbanity, dwelling, mobility, travel, exile, language, conversation and translation, endurance, memory and history without forgetting irony and a sense of good, trespassing humor. »
In Manifesta 4, artists are entering social spaces, working in unframed situations in the cityspace outside the white cube, and involving people in interactive processes where dialogue is a key word and instability is something positive. These artists are walking into reality with open agendas as well as strategic interventions. The result is unforeseen, often thrilling, and a vital part of the social construction.
Is the democratic, unplanned course of events more essential than the result ? Has art turned into a dynamic meeting point ? Is the concept of the artistic object dead ? The big stories about politics and society disappeared or were deconstructed and rephrased at the end of the last century. Are the art critics and art philosophers with overpowering theoretical structures outdated ?
AICA will host a round table on Saturday, May 25, 2002 at 6 p.m. in Manifestas Trespassing Space in Frankfurt/Main. See
The event will be open to the public with no entrance fee. The event is announced by the organisers of Manifesta 4 programs.
The Commission for the round table consists of : Kim Levin, president ; Ramon Tio Bellido, general secretary ; Angelica Bäumer, general treasurer ; Christian Chambert, vice president ; Evelyn Weiss, vice president ;and Henry Meyric Hughes, president of the I. F. M.