In the tradition of the "Manifesta Coffee Breaks", which have been part of the informal planning structures since the first edition of the nomadic biennial, Hans Ulrich Obrist, curator of Manifesta 1 in Rotterdam (1996) meets with Kaspar König, curator of Manifesta 10 in St. Petersburg (2014), and Christian Jankowski, curator of Manifesta 11 in Zurich (2016). They discuss the specific characteristics of Manifesta, a travelling exhibition that takes place in different European cities every two years. König talks about the concept for Manifesta 10 on the occasion of the 250th anniversary of the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg. He further addresses the origins of the Skulptur Projekte, which have been held in Münster in West Germany every ten years since 1977. Jankowski discusses his role as an artist-curator and his current artistic projects, which — like his work as acurator — revolve around connecting people. For the Zurich edition of Manifesta, he has planned numerous collaborations between artists and the local population.
“Our position is strictly aesthetic. It deals with social questions, it deals with psychological questions, it deals very much dramatically with what is happening in the world. However, we must try not to illustrate anything.”
— Kasper König
