The "Manifesta 5" Art Exhibition is showing works by young artists from Europe from 11th June - 30th September 2004 in Donostia-San Sebastián (Spain). The Biennial Art Festival, which has been organised every two years since 1996 in a different European city, is spread out over many places within the town precincts and is being sponsored for the second time already by the Allianz Kulturstiftung.

The "Manifesta - European Biennial Festival of Contemporary Art" is at present one of the most important biennial art festivals along with the documenta in Kassel and the Biennial in Venice. Rotterdam, Luxembourg, Ljubljana and Frankfurt were where the first four exhibitions were held. The "Manifesta 5" opens on 10th June in Donostia-San Sebastián, which is being organised by the "International Foundation Manifesta" in cooperation with the Basque government, the province of Gipuzkoa and the city of Donostia-San Sebastián.

More than 60 artists and art groups from 20 countries are showing their works under the auspices of Marta Kuzma (Ukraine) and Massimiliano Gioni (Italy) all over the town and examining to the same extent the geographic and socio-cultural situation of town and country.The rich, complex cultural identity of Donostia-San Sebastián, which is in an area of tension between Basque-French and Spanish-European influences, forms an inspiring setting for the "Manifesta 5".

The purpose of the exhibition is to discover not only economic and political dimensions but also historical and aesthetic dimensions for example in the Basque town of Donostia-San Sebastián and its industrial counterpart - the neighbouring seaport of Pasaia. Against this background the curators of this year's Manifesta have founded the "Office of Alternative Urban Planning" (OAUP) in cooperation with the "Berlage Institute", the Centre for Architecture and Urban Research in Rotterdam. In the run-up to the Biennial Festival the two curators - together with a team of architects - researched the special aspects of the town in order to reflect the cultural realities. At the same time it was asked what contribution the "Manifesta 5" can make to reviving Pasaia which is structurally one of the weakest regions in the province of Gipuzkoa.Instead of putting this year's Manifesta under a specific theme, the Exhibition focuses on several concepts which not only reflect the complexity of the region Donostia but also the diversity of contemporary art reality.

Project framework: 11th June - 30th September 2004

Project venue: Donostia-San Sebastián (Spain)

Project partner: Centro International de Cultura Contemporánea (CICC), International Foundation Manifesta (Amsterdam)