COURTESY OMA
Manifesta, the roving European biennial, announced today that the Office of Metropolitan Architecture (OMA) will be creative mediator for its upcoming 12th edition, set to open in Palermo, Italy, in 2018.
As creative mediator, OMA will investigate how Italian cities are governed, looking specifically at immigration, environmental issues, gentrification, and tourism. Led by Ippolito Pestellini Laparelli, the team will also explore how artists can intervene in places around the city. (Manifesta often takes place in various spaces around its chosen city; its most recent edition, in Zurich, put art in museums as well as dog-grooming stores.)
“The focus is on how Manifesta 12 can help to develop new rules or instruments for local communities to reclaim their city,” Manifesta’s director, Hedwig Fijen, said in a statement. “OMA, as an architecture office and research centre, is the right partner for Manifesta 12 because of their broad interest in how cities are affected by major geo-political issues.”
For those who can’t wait for Manifesta 12, some information is already available about Manifesta 13. That biennial will be held in 2020 in Marseilles, making it the first Manifesta to be held in France. The city of Marseilles has already contributed $2.74 million to help pay for Manifesta’s budget.