OMA, led by partner Ippolito Pestellini Laparelli, have been chosen as the "Creative Mediators" for the 12th edition of Manifesta, which will be held in Palermo in 2018. The practice will assemble an interdisciplinary team to investigate the role of governance in the Italian city, and address how contemporary urban centers are affected by tourism, gentrification, migration and climate change. They will also work "with specialists from the fields of contemporary art, sociology, music, cinema and architecture" to develop a series of "interactive, interdisciplinary, performative and artistic interventions."
The previous incarnation of Manifesta, which took place this year in Zurich, enabled a group of Swiss students to design a floating pavilion on Lake Zurich. The Mayor of Palermo (who has held the position twice before), Leoluca Orlando, has said: "After being listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site, with its Arab-Norman Palermo and the Cathedral Churches of Cefalù and Monreale, Palermo has confirmed its nomadic and migrant vocation." He expects [Manifesta 12 "to be another milestone in the development path of Palermo; a social and economic enhancement based on culture and the arts, addressing the issue of human mobility."
Pestellini Laparelli, himself Sicilian-born, most notably developed the Monditalia exhibition as part of OMA/AMO at the 14th Venice Architecture Biennale. "In the current political climate," he has said, "Palermo’s history and character make[s] it the ideal laboratory to re-imagine, from a Mediterranean perspective, the liberal values we share, and to address crucial issues for the present and future of the European city."
The concept for Manifesta 12 and the team of specialists will be announced beginning of 2017.
News via OMA
