After years of dedicated preparation, we are thrilled to finally open our doors and welcome visitors to engage with the Manifesta 16 Ruhr programme.

Free and open to everyone, we are excited to see people from all over the Ruhr Area and the rest of Europe enter the 12 former church buildings that host Manifesta 16 Ruhr over the coming 15 weeks. Spread across Duisburg, Essen, Gelsenkirchen and Bochum, Manifesta 16 Ruhr features the work of over 100 participants, with more than half as new commissions.

This year Manifesta also celebrates its anniversary, having travelled every two years to a new European city or region for 30 years since its first edition in 1996 in Rotterdam.

Plan your visit now by browsing the visit page on the Manifesta 16 Ruhr website. Whether you are planning a day trip, visiting for a weekend, or staying longer – we’ve prepared several parcours that take you to selected venues, making it easy to explore the biennial and get the most out of your visit. You can also plan a personalised route by adding locations as you browse our website – your route overview shows the travel time between venues, making it easy to build your own Manifesta 16 excursion.

Preview Days and Opening Night

During the Manifesta 16 Ruhr Preview Days, we welcomed over 3,000 members of the press and professionals – both local and international. Amongst other events, the diverse programme took visitors from our official Press Conference in Theater Duisburg, to a performance by Mehtap Baydu in Gethsemane in Bochum, to a cultural conference in the Heilig-Kreuz-Kirche in Gelsenkirchen.

The programme culminated in our Opening Night, a large public celebration at UNESCO World Heritage Zollverein in Essen. It was a fantastic night of dancing and performances set against the backdrop of this remarkable post-industrial landmark.

This special moment was celebrated through a poetic performance by Manifesta 16 Ruhr participants Dúo Barber-Palacios, who brought a massive bell-construction on stage to perform their composition. For the first time, the Ruhrkohle-Chor collaborated with local DJ's to create a surprise intergenerational performance blending the Ruhr Area’s historic sounds with new voices.

Especially developed for the Manifesta 16 Ruhr Opening Night, Cute Community Radio premiered with Cute Community Circuit, an act featuring Guy Dermosessian, Başak Merev, Justice, Kioomars Musayyebi, Mohammad Tamim and Orli Yomi. The night concluded with energetic DJ sets by Oda Haliti and Kessler (Live). The evening was moderated by Tessniem Kadiri and Official Speeches were delivered by Ina Brandes, Minister for Culture and Science of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia; Hedwig Fijen, Director of Manifesta; Bärbel Bergerhoff-Wodopia, Member of the Executive Board of the RAG-Stiftung and Dr Frank Dudda, President of the Manifesta 16 Ruhr Supervisory Board and Chair of the RVR Ruhr Parliament.

Thank you to everyone who joined us for this special night; we look forward to welcoming you to the venues of Manifesta 16 Ruhr over the coming 15 weeks!

The evening was organised in collaboration with Stiftung Zollverein. With the kind support of Sparkasse Essen.