Transforming cities by transforming their spaces through art. With this objective, the European biennial Manifesta has landed in emblematic places in Barcelona and its surroundings, seeking to raise awareness of social and climatic challenges facing cities and their inhabitants.
The transformative power is evident in what has become the icon of this edition of Manifesta: the Tres Xemeneies of Sant Adrià de Besòs, which have opened to the public for the first time. The concrete and iron mass has become more than a skeleton that evidences the industrial past of the area: it has been erected as a place where art and vindication unite to re-signify spaces and to challenge citizens in the face of present and future challenges.
Inside what was once the turbine building, the monotony of the gray iron and concrete is cracked with artistic installations such as Nnena Kalu's colorful amorphous sculptures and the green luminosity of Alexandra Daisy Ginsberg's creation. The transformation and fragility of the planet are reflected in large hanging cocoons by Carlos Bunga, while broken and burned trees gathered by Kiluanji Kia Henda highlight nature's power to heal itself. A power of nature also explored by Ugo Schiavi through a techno-organic ecosystem formed by plants collected from the plot adjacent to the Tres Xemeneies: a land contaminated for years by the industrial activity of the area and the thermal power plant itself. The enormous space of the then turbine building now houses the artistic installations, on various levels and spaces connected by narrow labyrinthine corridors that can generate a certain claustrophobic sensation.
This sensation is blurred by the slow sway of Asad Raza's long, vaporous white fabrics that allow themselves to be caressed by the Mediterranean breeze entering freely through the windows of the highest floor of the structure that housed the turbines. On one side of the structure, the sea; on the other, the three chimneys and the remains of the power plant.
Leaving the property on the side facing the sea can even be comforting, although the panoramic view has a certain inhospitable and desolate air. And the extensive sandy exterior fenced with metal grilles has not been left out of Manifesta: large structures emulating sea urchins by Choi+Shine Architects and a reinterpretation of bird flight by Niels Albers merge with the horizon and invite contemplation of the three chimneys from another perspective and to tread their contaminated land with awareness.
The opening to the public of this emblematic space of the metropolitan skyline takes place within the framework of the prestigious Manifesta biennial, which aims to reimagine the future of cities and how they face their challenges through art, architecture, and urbanism. This nomadic biennial, born in Rotterdam in 1996 and having passed through 14 European cities before arriving in the Catalan capital, aims to provide new perspectives through the interventions of its artists, who have transformed unique and historic spaces in 12 cities around Barcelona.
This decentralized model debuts in this edition of Manifesta, making it the largest in its history. The biennial extends its proposals to L'Hospitalet, Cornellà, El Prat, Badalona, Santa Coloma de Gramenet, Granollers, Mataró, Sabadell, Terrassa, and Sant Cugat del Vallès, in addition to Barcelona and Sant Adrià de Besòs, with its three chimneys as a symbol of this edition and of a future that Barcelona and its metropolitan area look towards through the transformative power of culture.
The biennial, which will last until November 24, reaching 80 days in duration, has its base camp in the Eixample of the Catalan capital, nestled in the former Editorial Gustavo Gili. From Barcelona and under the direction of Hedwig Fijen, Manifesta spreads to its different venues, which can be visited for 15 euros in total and which try to answer questions in three areas: the need to balance conflicts, focused on the Llobregat; that of imagining futures, in the Besòs, and that of caring and being cared for, in Collserola.
The spaces through which Manifesta's art, with its transformative vocation and social perspective, expands range from old factories like Can Trinxet in L'Hospitalet and Vapor Buxeda Vell in Sabadell, to the Monestir de Sant Cugat, passing through the area around the Pont del Petroli in Badalona, the Seu d'Ègara, and the old Mataró prison, the first panopticon model in Spain, which now houses Mataró Art Contemporani. In Llobregat, another location chosen to generate debate stands out: Casa Gomis, which emerges in the heart of La Ricarda, protagonist of the controversy over the expansion of El Prat Airport.
With 83 installations and more than 90 participants, the biennial delves into issues such as the legacy of dreams from the Monestir de Sant Cugat; solidarity among women and sorority at CIBA in Santa Coloma; environmental preservation at Casa Gomis, and death through songs to die in the old Mataró prison.
Installations exploring nightlife, power, and control in Cal Quitèria de Sant Cugat, a photoceramic wall by Joan Fontcuberta and Toni Cumell in the Fàbrica Roca Umbert de Granollers, and a sound installation with 500 speakers reproducing the buzzing of bees pollinating are some of the many installations of Manifesta, which are complemented by activities, workshops, talks, exhibitions, and performances within the biennial's Focus Week, in addition to proposals organized by the municipalities where the prestigious event with an international focus takes place.
This international perspective represents an opportunity for the local art scene, as well as for putting spaces like the Tres Xemeneies and the future audiovisual and digital hub that the complex will house on the map. A future that will be built without forgetting the industrial past of the site, and land contaminated for decades. "Speak to the earth and she will teach you", as proclaimed by the large sign that greets visitors to the Tres Xemeneies, while a few meters away the Besòs incinerator continues to smoke.