The curator of this year’s Manifesta, which opens in July in Pristina, Kosovo, has announced an initial list of artists. The Berlin-based Australian Catherine Nichols brings together a heavy contingent of local artists, with 37 participants from Kosovo itself and a further 16 from the Western Balkans, as well as a smattering of international names including Roni Horn, Ugo Rondinone and Chiharu Shiota.
Under Nichols’ title It matters what worlds world worlds: how to tell stories otherwise, their work is to be spread across the city in venues including the former industrial site of the Brick Factory; the Grand Hotel, an iconic hotel built during the Yugoslav period; the new Centre for Narrative Practice in the former Hivzi Sylejmani Library.
The theme, the biennial says ‘takes up the challenge of exploring and generating new practices and modes of collective storytelling’ and hopes to focus on ‘creating, together with local and regional communities, alternative models of social-cultural, urban and artistic engagement’.
Nichols elaborated: ‘When I visited Pristina, the people I encountered, the conversations I had, the work I witnessed gave me a palpable sense of the transformative power that lies in stories and in the act, in the practice of storytelling itself. Here you can really feel that it’s storytelling that brings into being the public realm: the space between you and me. I am delighted at the prospect of joining the Manifesta 14 team in bringing together artists, thinkers, scientists and citizens from all over Europe and beyond to explore how storytelling might enable us to engage with one another and, in our inherent plurality, to act in concert, to bring forth a more-than-human common world.’
As well as the three-month show, Manifesta says it aims to establish a permanent legacy in the city including the transformation of the former Hivzi Sylejmani Library into the Centre for Narrative Practice, a permanent multi-functional creative space, and the creation of Kosovo’s first mediation school.
The artists confirmed so far are: Petrit Abazi, Piers Greville & Stanislava Pinchuk; Astronomy Club of Kosova; Bora Baboci; Valentina Bonizzi; Anna Bromley; Luz Broto; Lee Bul; Lúa Coderch; Ilir Dalipi; Yael Davids; Cevdet Erek; ETEA; Jakup Ferri; Foundation 17; Núria Güell; Driton Hairedini; Artan Hairullahu; Laureta Hairullahu; Petrit Halilaj; Flaka Haliti; Haveit Collective; Roni Horn; Malinda Hoxha; Astrit Ismaili; Fitore Isufi Shukriu – Koja; Hristina Ivanoska; Emily Jacir; Sejla Kameric; Antoneta Kastrati; Doruntina Kastrati; Genti Korini; Argjirè Krasniqi; Edona Kryeziu; Katalin Ladik; Brilant Milazimi; Hana Miletic; Alketa Xhafa Mripa; Alban Muja; Sami Mustafa; Silvi Naci; Natasha Nedelkova; Tuan Andrew Nguyen; Vigan Nimani; Christian Nyampeta; Adrian Paci; Marubi National Museum of Photography; Pykè Presje; Lala Rasció; raumlaborberlin; Alicia Rogalska; RomaMoMa with Farija Mehmeti; Ugo Rondinone; Sahei Rahal; Nusret Salihamixhigi; Oral History Initiative/Secondary Archive; Sekhmet Institute; Selma Selman; Driton Selmani; Abi Shehu; Chiharu Shiota; Speculative Tourism; Starry Skies of Humanity; Beth Stephens & Annie Sprinkle; StoryLab; tamtam; Miryana Todorova; Vangjush Vellahu; Alije Vokshi; Werker Collective; Sislej Xhafa; YII Xhaferi; Miki Yui.
The biennial takes places in different city each edition. In 2024 it Barcelona will host the exhibition. Manifesta 14 in Pristina will be on show 22 July – 30 October.
