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General Coordinator Manifesta 13 MARSEILLE

Towards the end of the summer of 2018, the newly commissioned architectural office MVRDV and The Why Factory, led by Winy Maas, began their urban research for Manifesta 13 Marseille. They were joined by Manifesta’s permanent team who had recently arrived from Palermo and were settling into the city for a stay of approximately two and a half years. As the newly appointed General Coordinator of Manifesta’s 13th edition, and as a Marseillaise, I had the privilege of accompanying the research team from MVRDV and The Why Factory as they took their first steps. Together, we were determined to understand the substantifique moelle as François Rabelais put it — the pith and marrow, the substance of Marseille. From the outset, it was a considerable challenge.

After all, how can one adequately communicate the complexity and intensity of Marseille’s history, its cultural heritage, its inhabitants, its contours and topography? How can one demonstrate how this city, with its fiercely proud spirit, its creativity and its remarkable resilience, leaves no one indifferent and demands a personal commitment?

Between 2017 and 2018, preliminary workshops took place between the Manifesta 13 team and the cultural and non-profit communities of the city and its surrounding region. These workshops explored the scope and ambitions of the biennial in Marseille. Manifesta 13 Marseille aimed to tune into all the local key institutional stakeholders and leaders of social associations in its temporary new home. The intention was to co-create a framework both for the city of Marseille as well as a foundation of the 13th edition of Manifesta and to continue the transformation of the biennial model that had been set in motion during the 12th edition in Palermo. This was also an opportunity for the people of Marseille and its region to investigate their position amongst other European metropolises, not only from a cultural and artistic point of view.

This was where the work of Winy Maas, MVRDV and The Why Factory (part of Delft University of Technology) came into its own. They were challenged to advise city and policymakers about building a sustainable Marseille as the cohesive city of tomorrow. Their aim was to reveal the promise and potential of Marseille and its region, whilst taking into consideration all its complexities. Ultimately, this pre-biennial study would also serve as an inspirational think tank for the participants of Manifesta 13 Marseille and in turn put the city on the global map. This research extended creative art beyond its conventional limits, engaging in a dialogue with the city’s inhabitants, far from the usual clichés.

MVRDV and The Why Factory’s initial meetings were based on the groundwork done by Joana Monbaron, research assistant for Manifesta 13 Marseille. Joana’s work facilitated a closer reading of the multiple facets of the city and its region, spanning both the well-known and the more hidden features. These meetings included crucial figures from the community, decision makers from leading industries, cultural actors, politicians and inhabitants. Subsequently, we travelled the city, from north to south, from east to west. We explored the sea, the port, Calanques (the national park). We met citizen-led collectives, embraced their cultural and artistic effervescence, delved deep into their history, strode the length and breadth of this metropolis and discovered what football really means to the people of Marseille. We navigated the flow, saw how public transport and health services are organised and listened to the urban planners in charge of major projects for the city and the metropolis.

Soon enough, this team of talented professional urban planners were fascinated by the complexity of Marseille, a quite unclassifiable place, unlike any other city in the world. The intricacies of this pre-biennial study demanded more insights and more time. Then, right in the middle of this research two buildings collapsed on the rue d’Aubagne, killing eight people. This tragedy, the echoes of which will be felt for a long while to come, took on a particular meaning for the team. It demanded new research and called for new analysis and perspectives. The research project called Le Grand Puzzle was thus transformed into a vast body of 1,200 pages of stories, traces and facts — a mapping of the city of Marseille as it was in the autumn of 2018.

I believe this mapping was done at a very particular moment and was not intended to reflect the changes already carried out by the city, nor the actions being undertaken for its continuous development. These observations provoked reflections and proposals by city councillors and citizens. The proposals took on an idealised form, thanks to the students from the Delft University of Technology, the National Higher School of Architecture of Marseille (ENSA-Marseille) and the Marseille-Mediterranean College of Art and Design (ESADMM). These young students, who had a long-term vision for the future of Marseille, produced over 100 ideas for the city, represented on a model of approximately 200m2 at Marseille’s J1, a harbour building. This magnificent building encompasses the entire harbour area of Marseille and allows one to study the components of its urban structure at a glance: the sea and the hillside, the industrial zones, the port, the Panier neighbourhood, the new business area of La Joliette and more.

Initially, the idea for Manifesta 13 Marseille had been to transform one of MVRDV’s workshop proposals into an artistic and architectural intervention in the public space in the spring of 2019. After the tragic events of November 2018, it seemed more appropriate to draw inspiration from one of the so-called citizen consultation movements that are currently flourishing throughout Europe. Struck by the creativity and the capacities of the people we met, the idea was to ask Marseillais about their dreams for the city and then turn these into concrete proposals. Le Tour de Tous les Possibles was born, based on the topics in Le Grand Puzzle. Let us wager that some of the ideas of Le Grand Puzzle and Le Tour de Tous les Possibles will take root and blossom, thanks to catalyst organisations such as Marseille Solutions and Ouishare.

Let us hope that the citizens of Marseille will be left with some traces of the passage of this European Nomadic Biennial, starting with Le Grand Puzzle. Moreover, we hope that the experimental approach of Manifesta 13 Marseille, working alongside local artists and cultural organisations, will be welcomed with flying colours. Ultimately, the biennial confirms that contemporary creative art plays an essential role for all of us, providing substance and meaning to our daily lives. As a Marseillaise, I would like to thank the creative people of Manifesta, MVRDV and The Why Factory, Marseille Solutions, Ouishare, the ENSA and the ESDAMM for their commitment towards our city.