Looking back at Manifesta 15 Barcelona Metropolitana

Manifesta 15 Barcelona Metropolitana closed its doors on Sunday the 24th of November 2024 after its successful 12 week period.

The 15th edition of the European Nomadic Biennial saw close to 300,000 visits over the biennial period across 12 cities in the metropolitan region. This decentralised edition unfolded across 16 remarkable venues that channeled the past, present, and future of a more eco-social Barcelona and 11 cities of the metropolitan region: Badalona, Cornellà de Llobregat, El Prat de Llobregat, Granollers, L’Hospitalet, Mataró, Sadabell, Sant Adrià de Besòs, Santa Coloma de Gramanet, Sant Cugat del Vallès and Terrassa.

Visitors were predominantly from the Barcelona Metropolitan Region (85.4%), with 4.8% coming from the rest of Spain and 9.8% from international locations, from Germany (18.3%), Italy (17.6%), and the Netherlands (15.0%). The predominantly local and regional audiences highlights the successful implementation of a biennial programme for and with the locality.

Under the guidance of the Biennial’s Director, Hedwig Fijen, an Artistic Team was formed including the Manifesta 15 Creative Mediators, the Manifesta 15 team and 11 Artistic Representatives from the different cities of the metropolitan region. The programme was divided into three thematic and geographical clusters, opening some of its venues for the very first time to the general public, including the iconic Three Chimneys of Sant Adrià de Besòs.

The largest geographical scope of any Manifesta edition to date, the biennial showcased the work of 92 participants of which 39% were local.

A key element of each edition of Manifesta, the Education and Mediation programme welcomed a total of 16,702 participants, organising 815 tours for 12,882 visitors.

The Manifesta 15 + programme was an independent programme that responded to the invitation of Manifesta 15 in each of the participant municipalities in the metropolitan region. The programme organised 33 exhibitions, 95 events across 30 venues and welcomed more than 33,000 visitors.

Since being named the Host Region for the 15th edition of Manifesta in 2020, more than 1059 articles were published by local, national and international media until December 2024. Over 254 journalists and 1402 professionals attended the preview days which took place from the 5th to the 7th of September 2024.

With a total budget of €8,9 million, the main funders of the edition were the City Hall of Barcelona (€5.4 million), the Diputació de Barcelona (€1.2 million), the Generalitat de Catalunya (€1 million) and the Ministry of Culture of Spain (€500,000).

One of the main legacies of Manifesta 15 is the acquisition of the venue Casa Gomis in El Prat de Llobregat by the Ministry of Culture of Spain and the announcement that this will be transformed into a eco-cultural centre.