[spectre] Letter from former curators of Manifesta 6 (Modified by Geert Lovink)

[HedwigFijen at manifesta.org]

For Immediate Release
June 6, 2006

  A letter from Mai Abu ElDahab, Anton Vidokle and  Florian Waldvogel, 
former curators of Manifesta 6

  Dear Colleagues, Dear Friends,

  Manifesta 6 was planned to take the form of a temporary art school, 
the  Manifesta 6 School, comprised of three departments revolving 
around diverse  cultural issues and debates, and each proposing a 
different structural  model for art education. The proposed Manifesta 6 
School is a postgraduate,  trans-disciplinary program for approximately 
90 participants from many  parts of the world lasting about 12-weeks: 
(see full list of Manifesta 6  participants below). Inspired by such 
historical examples as Black Mountain  College and the Bauhaus, the 
School would be a meeting ground for cultural  producers in the region 
and beyond, and a platform for discussion and  production.

  In keeping with the past goals of Manifesta to open dialogue between 
West  Europe’s artists and audiences and their Eastern European peers,  
Manifesta 6 intended to “play a modest role in developing new forms  of 
cultural partnerships, not only within the new Europe, but particularly 
  between Europe and its immediate neighbouring regions.” Such cultural  
partnerships in the context of Nicosia, a city located on the 
furthermost  edge of European Community and divided into Greek and 
Turkish Cypriot  sectors, specifically implies engagement and presence 
in both communities  inhabiting this city.

  Unfortunately, on June 1st, we received a letter from the Mayor of 
Nicosia,  Cyprus, effectively terminating our contracts to organize 
Manifesta 6, the  European Biennial of Contemporary  Art in Nicosia. On 
June 2nd, Nicosia for Art Ltd. (the  non-profit organization set up and 
owned by the Municipality of  Nicosia to run the  project) made a 
public announcement and circulated it  internationally defining a 
variety of alleged breaches of contract by the  curators, which led the 
city to cancel the project.

  The alleged breaches of contract being referred to relate in large 
part to  what Nicosia for Art Ltd. states as “Recently and contrary to 
the original  concept of the Manifesta 6 program the curatorial team 
insisted on the  establishment and operation of an essential part of 
the Manifesta 6 School  in the occupied part of Nicosia”, a break of 
confidentiality and an  unwillingness on the part of the curators to 
mediate the situation to reach  an amicable compromise to allow for the 
project to be  realized.

  With regards to the primary issue around the location of a part of the 
  school in the north, the contractual agreement made with the local  
authorities clearly defined Manifesta 6 as a bi-communal project,  
therefore, we believed ourselves to be working within the parameters  
outlined and agreed upon at the outset of the project. Accordingly, we  
developed the project  in the spirit of this bi-communality, and 
throughout the  process, the Greek Cypriot authorities not only agreed, 
but also encouraged  this approach to working in both areas of the city 
and made numerous  official public statements confirming their support.

  The Manifesta 6 School was envisioned as an important cultural project 
to  take place in a city whose political climate has been changing  
dramatically. Needless to say, we continued to work to safeguard this  
position while obviously making every effort to reach a compromise with 
  Nicosia for Art Ltd. to ensure our concept is realized. Moreover, we  
continuously advocated for a transparency within the process to 
maintain  responsible and accountable conditions for our collaborators 
and ourselves.

  Unfortunately, throughout the course of the last six months, we were  
increasingly hindered by a lack of administrative support to realize 
the project, which  simply climaxed with the termination of our 
contracts as the final gesture  reflecting Nicosia for Art’s 
unwillingness to resolve any  disagreements. Although we can conjecture 
and analyze the problematics of  the situation, we feel that our 
foremost priority now is to attempt to find  a way to ensure that the 
commitments and hard work of all of those involved  whether 
administratively or from the artistic side is not lost, and is  treated 
with the utmost respect and support.

  This cancellation of the Manifesta 6 School does a great disservice to 
the  cultural community of Cyprus. Numerous artists, writers and 
academics who  live on both sides of the island have sent us letters of 
support,  protesting arbitrary action by local authorities that 
deprives the cultural  community of an invaluable opportunity to meet 
and engage with their peers  from around the world, noting that “given 
the limited resources available  at the local level, the mobilization 
of such interest and expertise for Nicosia is unprecedented and 
extremely special.”

  We are currently in the process of considering and planning how to 
proceed,  while rejecting any form of censorship that obstructs the 
dissemination of  ideas and impedes artistic production.

  We very much appreciate the support we have been getting in the course 
of  the past few days and very much hope we are able to turn these 
unfortunate  events into a productive outcome. The International 
Foundation Manifesta  will be sending out a press release shortly 
outlining the plans to come.

  Thank you once again.

  Sincerely,

Mai  Abu ElDahab, Anton Vidokle, Florian Waldvogel


  For further information, please write to International Foundation 
Manifesta at secretariat at manifesta.org

  Invited participants of Manifesta 6 School

  Department 1
  Curator - Mai Abu ElDahab, Assistant  Curator - Mohamed Yousri
  Participants: Eyal Weizman, Variant Magazine, Francesco Bernardelli, 
Philip  (a workshop by Heman Chong and Leif Magne Tangen), Pages 
Magazine, Jonas Ohlsson, Jan  Verwoert, Yael Davids, Mark Aerial 
Waller, Brian Kuan Wood, Demetris  Talliotis, Constantinos Talliotis, 
Christina Lambrou, Constance Gonoud, Sarah Oppenheimer,  Andrew Peter 
Steen, Gidoen Boie, Motaz Atalla, Maha Maamoun, Dena Kasraian,  Babak 
Rostamian, Andre Sousa, Gul Kozacioglu, Will Holder, Valentinas 
Klimasauskas, Ricardo Alzati, dotdotdot

  Department 2
  Curator - Anton Vidokle,  Assistant Curator - Kaja Pawelek
  Participants: Boris Groys, Martha Rosler, Walid  Raad, Jalal Toufic,  
Tirdad Zolghadr, Liam  Gillick, Anri Sala, Mete Hatay, Tobias 
Rehberger, Yiannis  Papadakis, Christian Jankowski, Neurotransmitter, 
Pierre Huyghe, Akram Zaatari,  Chrostodoulos Panayiotou, Ali Cherri, 
Alexandra Weirstall, Amber Onar, Antonios Bogadakis, Mike Bouchet, 
Carlos Motta, Carolina Caydeco, Driton  Hajredini, Emily Mast & Carly 
Busta, Ethan Breckenridge, Fia Backstrom,  Gabriel Lester,  Haris 
Pellapaisiotis, Hila Peleg, Hubert Czerepok, Jakup Ferri, Jonah  
Freeman, Jose Leon Cerrilo, Julieta Aranda, Katina Saoulli, Katsura  
Kuniera, Koken Ergun, Liz Linden, Mandla Reuter, Munir Al Azawi, Pelin 
Uran, Polonca Lovsin, Regina Basha, Santiago Cucullu, Serap Kanay, 
Setareh Shahbazi,  Shahab Fotouhi, Nico Dockx

  Department 3
  Curator - Florian Waldvogel, Assistant Curator - Benjamin Seibel
  Participants: Julie Ault, Martin  Beck, Silke Wagner, Japanther, 
Sebastian Lütgert, Thomas  Edlinger, Sister Corita Kent, Fritz 
Ostermeyer, Dona Carmen, Jeronimo Voss,  Gui Bonsiepe, Thomas Vizent, 
Nikolaus Hirsch, Moshe Zuckermann, Stefan  Lehnert, Kisa, Alfred 
Schobert, Duncan McCowan, Katherine Hare, Melita  Couta, Maria 
Efstathiou, Margarita Paraskevaidou, Anna Photiadou,  Christopher 
Malapitan, Jens Strandberg, Bärbel Hartje, Gabriele Gaspari, Alexander  
Schikowski, Begum Erciyas, Can Sarvan Boranbay, Samuel Dowd, Andria  
Meletiou, Windianto Utomo, Claudia Di Lecce, Gaja Fugazza, Squid, 
Magnus  Liistamo, Ralph Kistler, Robin Bhattachanya, Societe Realiste, 
Sussannah Mira, Craig Smith, Patrica Reed, Lasse Emlund Lorentzen, Lyn 
Lowenstein,  Craig Leonard, Anthony Schrag, Inga Zimprich, Chicks on 
Speed, Petros Moris

 






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