About Manifesta 15 Barcelona
In the Bid for Manifesta 15, the City of Barcelona formulated the goal of decentralising the cultural infrastructure through creating a new cultural institutionalism by creating a biennial framework which would incorporate the Metropolitan Area. Furthermore, Manifesta 15 was invited to identify co-creation projects in the field of urban planning, education and mediation and artistic interventions between cultural and civil communities in the periphery of Barcelona.
Manifesta 15 aims to explore alternative urban and mobility structures and new ways to connect social and artistic communities and infrastructures. Manifesta 15 will investigate the relation of the metropolitan cities with the inner city of Barcelona whilst creating new collaborations between the individual metropolitan cities. The focus will be the cross-pollination between the metropolitan cities, their communities and their needs, through artistic interventions and community projects. The main elements are creating accessibility for a diverse audience, implementing participatory processes, including rural and urban channels with decentralised projects, to create green and community-based projects.
Background factors
There are numerous factors that have impacted the urban development of the City of Barcelona over the last decades. These include: the fast gentrification of the coastline and natural areas, the use of land for real estate development, the introduction of the Super Block model and the use of land for industrial transformation. City expansion is limited due to the natural barriers of the rivers, the sea and the mountains. However, rural and/or protected land are at risk because of the expansion of economic developments, such as the airport.