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

Erlea Maneros Zabala, ES

"Following the start of the American invasion of Afghanistan, the American press published a series of photographs "illustrating" the event. Many of these images - with human casualties and destruction omitted - looked like 19th Century landscape paintings. By using this form, painting, I want to address the ways in which the aesthetics of these images equated war to beauty. Through these means, war was made palatable to the audience. Furthermore war was proposed as a sublime event that could not be questioned."
- Erlea Maneros Zabala