Manifesta, the European Biennial of Contemporary Art, is one of the most important European biennials. It takes place every two years in different cities. For the seventh edition of Manifesta, a whole region was chosen: Trentino – South Tyrol, Italy. The area has been selected for its historical heritage and culture, and not least for its striking examples of industrial archaeology buildings. One of Manifesta 7’s venues is Fortezza / Franzensfeste. The impressive fortress was built in the 1830s by the Habsburgian Empire in order to defend the north/south passage through the Dolomite mountain region (now one of Europe’s most important travel routes) from two sides. The exhibition at Fortezza, entitled “Scenarios”, has been curated by Adam Budak, Anselm Franke / Hila Peleg, and Raqs Media Collective. Scenarios focuses on sound and voice: “Ten writers were invited to respond with texts to the enigma of the fortress,… These texts have been translated into Italian, German and English, interpreted by a theatre director, spoken by actors and acoustically situated within listening stations designed by a sound artist. The listening stations have been sited at different locations within the grounds and buildings of Fortezza / Franzensfeste. Thus the fortress ‘speaks’ these texts to the visitor.” (excerpt from the PR).
Scenarios was realized by Ant Hampton (Dramaturgy), Hannes Hoelzl (Audio Design), Martino Gamper (Furniture Design).
Contributing artists are Shahid Amin, Hélène Binet, Brave New Alps, Adriana Cavarero, Mladen Dolar, Harun Farocki, Karí¸ Goldt, Larry Gottheim, Renée Green, Timo Kahlen, Karl Kels, Thomas Meinecke, Glen Neath, Margareth Obexer, Philippe Rahm, Arundhati Roy, Saskia Sassen, Michael Snow, and Saadi Yousef. This is the first video of our Manifesta 7 coverage. July 26, 2008.

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