A creative and educational effort called MANIFEST will assist in the production of 12 works of art. The artworks should attempt to improve how Europe’s common memory of the transatlantic slave trade is reimagined. With the aid of artistic supervisors, academic researchers, and production partners, the artworks will be developed through an artistic journey.
The Project seeks to empower artists to engage with the subject, re-imagining the history of the transatlantic slave trade from the perspective of its links in the European continent and its existing cultural traces by organising an artistic journey that includes art residencies in Budapest/Zsennye, Lisbon, and Copenhagen. Selected artists will produce works of art that encourage an artistic exploration of the collective memory of the past. Artists and creators will be urged to fully utilise new technology and support the development of their own capacities during this journey.
For millennia, these occurrences have had a negative effect on Europe, the Mediterranean region, and Africa. But at some point in modern history, we transitioned from having slaves of various origins on European land to having virtually exclusively African-style slavery in the Americas. MANIFEST: The reimagination of Europe’s collective memory of the transatlantic trade of enslaved people is one of the goals of new artistic perspectives on recollections of that event.
MANIFEST aspires to collaborate with a variety of artists who are motivated or interested in learning more about the transatlantic slave trade. We encourage all forms of artistic expression. Both individuals and groups or collectives of artists are eligible to apply. There can be a maximum of three people in a group or collective. All applicants must be open to working with others and be willing to co-create with MANIFEST’s partners.
The chosen artists will produce works of art that encourage creative exploration of our past and have the power to alter our collective memory.
Two residencies host The Artistic Journey. The programme begins at the historic Zsennye Palace outside Budapest and continues in Lisbon. For a select group of artists who will be using these mediums, there will also be additional extended reality (XR) workshops in Copenhagen.
In addition to providing research contributions about the social legacies of this commerce and its related material and immaterial history, MANIFEST will assist the artistic journey concurrently. This data will be gathered and disseminated by an online resources centre.
In Nantes, a city replete with reminders of its slave-trading past, the artistic journey will come to an end with a Final Event. It will be a chance to hold the award ceremony for the residence creators and use the artworks to spark and engage in social discussion on the subject. Up until November 2024, MANIFEST will be co-funded by the European Commission as part of the Creative Europe Program.
Les Anneaux de la Mémoire, France’s top organisation focusing on the history and legacy of the Atlantic slave trade and colonial servitude, and Khora, an extended reality (XR) production studio and learning space situated in Copenhagen, Denmark, are all involved in the implementation of MANIFEST; including Gerador, an independent Portuguese platform for journalism, culture, and education; Pro Progressione, a Budapest-based artistic hub that specialises in cross-cultural collaborations; and CUMEDIAE, a Brussels-based international non-profit organisation that offers consulting services for Europe’s Cultural and Creative Industries.
To safeguard the project’s historical and scientific integrity, the consortium’s advisory board is made up of scientists and representatives from civil society, and the artistic committee’s members will endeavour to ensure the calibre of the chosen artworks.
