The eighth edition of Manifesta, the European Biennial of Contemporary Art (in dialogue with northern Africa) which took place in 2010 in the Region of Murcia in Spain, is proud to announce the release of its visual retrospective- the M8 Photo Archive. Providing a photographic evaluation, documentation and summary of Manifesta 8, this publication functions somewhat as a virtual Manifesta Coffee Break. It is part of our ongoing program of communication, education and mediation, and demonstrates our active role in developing our archives.

One of the fundamental characteristics of Manifesta 8 has been the innovative concept of collective curating, with the introduction of an artistic team made up from three groups of different curators coming from Europe, the former East bloc, the Middle East and the U.S. The subtext of Manifesta 8 was to investigate a dialogue with northern Africa. Many artists responded to this by creating new works which specifically focused on aspects of migration, refugee status, surveillance, post-colonial attitudes and the new border of Europe, both geographical and physical.

The M8 Photo Archive documents the works exhibited by the participating artists, photographed on-site by Ilya Rabinovich at the 14 principle venues located in the two host cities Murcia and Cartagena, with additional images by Wolfgang Träger. The book also records the entire Manifesta 8 process. It features some of the main protagonists during the set-up and opening days of the exhibitions in both cities, focusing on the curators, performances, installations and integrated Manifesta team.

We would like to express our sincere thanks to all artists, curators, team members, stakeholders and benefactors who together, have generously helped in the ambitious realisation of the eighth edition of Manifesta, the roving European Biennial of Contemporary Art.

For a sneak preview of the book see our Flickr page. The book is officially presented to the public at ARCO-Madrid 2012.

The M8 Photo Archive is available for pre-ordering now.
Price: E 22,50 (plus shipping)

For more information and to order the publication please contact us at: subscription@manifesta.org or call +31 20 672 14 35