From February 10 to July 10, 2016, Nationalgalerie at Hamburger Bahnhof –Museum für Gegenwart –Berlin will be showing a solo exhibition of Berlin-based artist Julian Rosefeldt. Manifesto is an exhibition of 13 parallel films and pays homage to the moving tradition of artist manifestos. In his work, Rosefeldt emphasizes the literary beauty and performative energy of artist manifestos, collaging numerous original manifestos to form 13 poetic monologues, showing them as a lively, highly current calls to action in moving images. Manifesto questions above all the role of the artist in today’s society.
In Rosefeld’ts Manifesto, the declarations spoken in youthful rage are enacted by Australian actress Cate Blanchett, reading the poetic text collages created by cutting and combining historical texts in 13 different, usually female roles —among them a choreographer of a dance ensemble, a teacher, a funeral speaker, a factory worker, a stockbroker, and a homeless man —and each of these characters brings the historical manifestos to today’s everyday world. The formulations and demands have to assert themselves in new surroundings, yet they often prove to be surprisingly current.
