Manifesta purposely strives to keep its distance from what are often seen as the dominant centres of artistic production, instead seeking fresh and fertile terrain for the mapping of a new cultural topography.

Manifesta 13 Marseille was one of the only international biennials to take place during the global pandemic COVID-19, the biennial ended earlier than planned due to the second national lockdown

Sara Sadik, FR

Carnalito Full Option is the second phase of Hlel Academy, a four-part project exploring teenage interactions and displays of emotions. Hlel Academy is a fictive training centre that welcomes those love has forgotten, heartbroken men between 16 and 20. Its academic programme is based on emotional and sentimental rehabilitation with the goal of training the elite Hlels of tomorrow.

Using the format of reality television, Carnalito Full Option is a real-life fiction in which five teenagers are isolated in an arena, cut-off from the outside world. For 24 hours, these young men will compete against each other in trials for the title of ‘ideal gadjo’. These trials were designed based on the ideal man portrayed by teenage girls on social media. Carnalito Full Option explores the mechanisms of young masculinity, oscillating between virile postures and teenage emotions. These young perfomers took part to a series of workshops led by Sara Sadik to prep them to the different trials – especially the one of poetry. By capturing the moments on and off set, Carnalito Full Option documents the mysteries of teenage seduction, and fleshes out the issues that animate those young men.

For the sake of their anonymity, the artist is obliged to conceal the actors’ identities