The Ruhr area will be venue for 16th Manifesta!
A joint initiative of art institutions and cultural workers, which our artistic director Britta Peters is a member of, was able to convince the international Manifesta foundation council with its concept. The lead partner of the travelling biennial in the Ruhr region will be the Regionalverband Ruhr.
In addition to Britta Peters, freelance exhibition organiser Markus Ambach, Inke Arns (Director HMKV), Peter Gorschlüter (Director Museum Folkwang), Heinrich Theodor Grütter (Director Stiftung Ruhrmuseum), Stefan Hilterhaus (Artistic Director PACT Zollverein), Olaf Kröck (Artistic Director Ruhrfestspiele), Hans-Peter Noll (Chairman of the Board of the Stiftung Zollverein) and Stefanie Reichart (Head of the Department of Culture and Sport Regionalverband Ruhr) belong to this initiative.
"Our concept is to raise awareness of the consequences of globalisation and to reflect on the established relationship between centre and periphery. How are the concepts of "work", "city", "centre" and "periphery" changing due to digitalisation, global trade routes and new economic fields? Does the polycentric Ruhr area have the potential to assert itself as a utopian model of a new form of urbanity that counters the dynamics of displacement and gentrification with a rich mesh of cultural density, regional production and open spaces?" (Britta Peters)
The Ruhr area's application had already met with a broad response in the run-up — in politics, among the Ruhr municipalities as well as cultural and scientific institutions, networks, foundations and initiatives from the region. Together, they provide Manifesta 16 with a broad social foundation.