The Manifesta Journal Reader is a book that compiles twenty-eight articles selected from the previous seventeen issues of the Manifesta Journal, one of the first international, professional publications on contemporary curatorship. Initiated by the Manifesta Foundation, Amsterdam, this extraordinary publication has been translated into Russian and published as a collaboration between the Faculty of Liberal Arts and Sciences (Smolny College), St. Petersburg State University, Manifesta Foundation and Calvert 22 Foundation.

The Manifesta Journal Reader is the result of a dialogue between the Publications and Education departments of Manifesta, the Curatorial and Critical Writing MA of the St. Petersburg State University and Calvert 22 Foundation who together discussed the possible opportunities provided by MANIFESTA 10 taking place in St. Petersburg. These fruitful and inspiring discussions led to a reflection about the legacy of MANIFESTA 10, the need to leave a permanent trace and the role that Smolny College, St. Petersburg plays in shaping the future generations of curators and writers.

The Manifesta Journal Reader represents an important step in Calvert 22’s mission to use cross-cultural communication to broaden theoretical awareness and to strengthen practical skills in the arts in Russia and Eastern Europe.

The collection of texts, based on the practices and theories of contemporary curating, is edited by Viktor Misiano, co-founder of the Manifesta Journal with Igor Zabel, and former Manifesta Journal Chief Editor, critic, and curator, in collaboration with Nataša Petrešin-Bachelez, current Manifesta Journal Chief Editor and the support of Virginie Bobin, former Associated Editor.

The Manifesta Journal Reader will provide a solid theoretical body of articles to reconsider the meanings and the effects of curatorial practices today focusing in the first part on the theoretical foundations of curating and formulating a grammar and manual of contemporary curatorship in order to move, in the second part, on to urgent (geo)political, humanistic, instigating and controversial potentialities.

The selection of the articles reflects the evolution of the professional figure of the curator and curating since 2003, when the Manifesta Journal was founded by the Manifesta Foundation, Amsterdam, with the subtitle “Journal of Contemporary Curatorship” to nowadays where the focus has shifted to “Around Curatorial Practices”.

It is envisioned that The Manifesta Journal Reader will function as a comprehensive textbook for future Russian curators, comprised of a wide-reaching sequence of both theoretical and pragmatic articles on contemporary artistic and curatorial practices written by outstanding international curators and intellectuals, including Russian thinkers such as Viktor Mazin and Viktor Misiano but also international thinkers like Mary Anne Staniszewski, Rasha Salti, Cuauhtemoc Medina, John Akomfrah or Fatima El-Tayed.

The publication was initiated by the Manifesta Foundation, Amsterdam (Esther Regueira, Sepake Angiama and Lisa Mazza) in collaboration with the FLAS Master of Arts Program in Curatorial Studies (Olesya Turkina and Natalia Alyoshina), St. Petersburg State University and the Calvert 22 Foundation.

October 24, 2014 

19:00 – 21:00 at Smolny Institute, the Department of Liberal Arts and Sciences,
(Address: 58-60 Galernaya, Room 223, the Cinema Hall), in St. Petersburg  

The launch will be in Russian and English with simultaneous translation. The co-editor Viktor Misiano will give a brief introduction to The Manifesta Journal Reader during the launch.

Spaces are limited so if you wish to attend the launch, please email your name to anastasia.a@calvert22.org with the subject ‘RSVP The Manifesta Journal Reader Launch.’

The Manifesta Journal Reader will be distributed in Russia by Arca Publishers (www.arcapublishers.ru) and will be available for purchase online at www.calvert22.org