Manifesta 13 Marseille Announced its Collaboration with Winy Maas and MVRDV
At the press conference held today, August 31 in Marseille, Manifesta 13 unveiled the collaboration with Winy Maas of the Dutch architecture office MVRDV on an interdisciplinary urban study of Marseille and its metropolitan region as the base for the curatorial framework of Manifesta 13.
MVRDV is a Rotterdam based international urban and architectural office which works globally on contemporary architectural and urban issues. In Marseille, MVRDV will work closely with students from Aix-Marseille University and The Why Factory, a research institute for the future city, founded by Winy Maas in 2008 at TU Delft. The pre-biennial research will be an investigation tool for the next Creative Mediators team and an instrument for the citizens of Marseille to co-create and synergise with the biennial in an early stage.
Winy Maas, co-founder MVRDV, stated “As an urban planner I imagine to highlight, enlarge and manifest the potentials, necessities and beauties of Marseille. The urban study will support all artists, makers and designers involved, to show, inspire and enlarge its role and specificity within the archipelago of European cities. Thus, enlarging Europe’ s cohabitation and strength.”
Hedwig Fijen, Manifesta Director, stated: “With the appointment of Dutch office MVRDV as partners in the research process for M13 in Marseille, we hope to get a better understanding how to implement the biennial in a more inclusive way in the tissues of the host city, considering ways of working such as co-creation, co-production and collaboration with local universities and associations. We believe that by commissioning an architectural office to develop an urban research anticipating the biennial, Manifesta reaches beyond specific art communities to facilitate a new social commons, and allows commissioned artists, thinkers and curators to operate both within a framework and with freedom of experiment.“
Manifesta 13 Marseille
7 June – 1 November 2020
