Manifesta 6. The failure is the project

“For substantial reasons, it would not have been meaningful to mount yet another large group exhibition on Cyprus. So we decided to establish a school where cultural production could be investigated by means of transdisciplinary techniques. A school that would deal with the issue of contemporary education and knowledge production in today’s world. Cyprus, whose Greek southern zone became a member nation of the EU in late 2004, has a history and geopolitical significance that make it an ideal site for a forward-looking project that would focus on new means and models for imparting knowledge and production. We had invited people from all walks of life to work on site-specific issues of global interest. It would now appear that our approach was too site-specific.”

Florian Waldvogel is curator at the Witte de With Center for Contemporary Art, Rotterdam.