Читать книгу Manifesta 13 Marseille - Группа авторов - Страница 6
ОглавлениеMayor of Marseille and Honorary Vice-President of the Senate of the French Republic
Marseille is a cosmopolitan city and a place that welcomes outsiders. It is home to a community and an economic centre for trade and commerce. A socially engaged city, Marseille has attracted artists ever since the creators of the Cosquer Cave paintings 27,000 years ago. Many artists have marked Marseille’s history, including the more than 600 who now live and work in the city. A multitude of public and private actors facilitate the city’s burgeoning artistic scene, which embraces all forms of creativity.
A city of dialogue and culture, Marseille is the quintessential setting for the arts.
The Marseille-Provence 2013 European Capital of Culture demonstrated the city’s creative energy, turning public space into a boundless source of inspiration for art, research and innovation. It generated new artistic practices and transformed the image of Marseille in the eyes of its inhabitants and the world.
In 2013 the results of a process of urban transformation, initiated 20 years earlier, were showcased. Determined to build on this success, in 2015 Marseille applied to host Manifesta 13, a highly renowned contemporary art biennial yet to be held in France. This application included an invitation to Manifesta’s experts to look at the city from an outside perspective. They were asked to think about Marseille’s inhabitants, distinct practices, strengths and weaknesses — but above all its exceptional potential. Marseille captured the interest of the Manifesta Foundation team, who were fascinated by this unique space of energy and encounters, this cultural melting pot in constant motion. By welcoming Manifesta 13 Marseille, the city looks to the future. We are trying to imagine the city of tomorrow and transform our policies of audience development and cultural outreach. The current health crisis affecting us all only exacerbates the need to reflect on ways of forward planning. The city wants to allow everyone to engage with contemporary artistic creation, both in terms of its work and characteristic concepts. In doing so, we hope to encourage people to reflect on and discuss major social questions. Manifesta 13 Marseille is the ideal testing ground for this.
Manifesta 13 Marseille will take place within the urban fabric of the city in totally new ways, ways that were invented in response to COVID 19! It will engage closely with local communities and artists and aims to make culture a permanent feature of urban life — a part of Marseille’s social contract. Through its original cultural programme, conceived with current social issues in mind, Manifesta 13 Marseille will attract public interest and bring local people face to face with contemporary art practices. The expertise brought by the Manifesta 13 Marseille team will help to further strengthen the burgeoning local art scene, whose abundant potential was demonstrated in 2013.
The international reach of Manifesta 13 Marseille will help to promote the city’s reputation further afield. The quality of the event and the presence of international artists working with the local public, as well as the city’s ability to bounce back in times of adversity will be seen far beyond the city.
Organised in traditions of both local popular gatherings and major international events, Manifesta 13 Marseille will place Marseille and its metropolitan area at the forefront of contemporary culture. Generating energy and appeal for the local area, the event will leave a clear and manifest trace on Marseille’s collective memory.
