This ninth edition of Rotterdam Cultural Histories looked back at Manifesta 1, the first edition of the traveling European biennial that took place in Rotterdam in June-August 1996. By means of never before shown archive material and video material, an image was given of the creation of Manifesta and the works and subjects that featured in it.
Manifesta was developed by Hedwig Fijen and Jolie van Leeuwen as a format for a travelling art manifestation that visits a different European city every two years. Manifesto 1 was presented in 16 different art institutions and 36 public spaces in Rotterdam – including Villa Alckmaer – the predecessor of TENT – , Witte de With Center for Contemporary Art and V2_ – and was one of the first international biennials that aimed to initiate collaboration between local art institutions and artists on such a scale. Also special was that not one curator was selected, but five: Katalyn Neray (Hungary), Rosa Martinez (Spain), Viktor Misiano (Russia), Andrew Renton (United Kingdom), Hans-Ulrich Obrist (Switzerland).
contemporary europe
This first edition of Manifesta focused on topics surrounding contemporary Europe, such as migration, translation and communication, community and politics. All artworks from Manifesta 1 were specially created for this edition and many of the participating artists, now world famous, experienced their first exhibition outside their own country.
In this archive presentation, in addition to contributions by artists such as Maria Eichhorn, Ayse Erkmen, Vadim Fishkin, IRWIN, Roman Ondák and Huang Yong Ping, special attention was paid to the work of Oleg Kulik and the Rotterdam artist initiative NEsTWORK.
Oleg Kulik
During Manifesta 1, Oleg Kulik performed 'Pavlov's Dog', now known as the central piece of his oeuvre. For weeks, Kulik took on the identity of a dog and stayed 24 hours a day at V2_ Institute for the Unstable Media, where he performed various intelligence and physical tests as a dog in a 'laboratory'.
NEsTWORK
NEsTWORK was an initiative of Rotterdam artist Jeanne van Heeswijk, which aimed to give Manifesta roots in the local art community. In addition to Van Heeswijk, the Rotterdam artist group consisted of Karin Arink, Wapke Feenstra, Edwin Janssen, Menna Laura Meijer, Kamiel Verschuren and Ruud Welten. The group produced a total of eighty-seven daily programs with activities, performances, concerts, films, lectures and debates at various locations in the city.
Rotterdam Cultural Histories
In Shared Space, our shared exhibition space on the first floor, TENT and Witte de With Center for Contemporary Art alternately present presentations on topics from the history of art and culture in Rotterdam. This collaborative project was initiated in 2014 by Defne Ayas (Witte de With) and Mariette Dölle (TENT) to explore the shared roots of both institutions in Rotterdam.