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 15 Barcelona will be taking place in Barcelona and 11 surrounding metropolitan cities

Al Moutawassit. Cultural mediation as a meeting point

Education: publication

The publication is the result of Manifesta 13 Tiers Programme project Al Moutawassit: cultural mediation as a meeting point, the autumn school for young professionals working in the fields of contemporary art, formal education, research, and social action in Algeria, France, Morocco, and Tunisia.

The project was initiated together with Atelier de l’Observatoire in Casablanca and Art Rue in Tunis to expand the prevailing understanding of arts education and audience engagement practices in France (where they are known as ‘cultural mediation’) and in other Western contexts.

This publication is composed of three parts. The first is devoted to commissioned texts that contextualize what is understood as audience engagement and education in the different national perimeters participating in the Al Moutawassit project. The second part of the publication documents the work of the twenty-one participants of Al Moutawassit. They worked in groups on four thematic approaches to education and outreach: decentring and decolonising knowledge; situated, territorialised mediation; questioning methodologies; and institutional analysis and power relations within institutions. A collective bibliography closes the publication and brings together resources gathered during the online school and augmented by the speakers, participants, organisers, and tutors.

The digital version of the publication can be accessed for free here.