Julian Rosefeldt's Manifesto...

7:35 p.m.

18/09/17 - A manifest is a declaration of intentions, opinion, objectives or motives, submitted by politicians, organizations or other important personalities. From 1848 (Comunist Manifest) till the end of the 20th century, philosophers, visual artists, architects, writers, cinematographers and poets wrote different manifests related to the artistic object or as political declarations regarding contemporary issues.

Nowadays, in a time that lacks manifests, Julian Rosefeldt (Germany, 1965), at PROA, questions himself about Art today and creates his own Manifesto in 13 screens, with the help of actress Cate Blanchett. Rosefeldt applies the historic manifests to today's society and the Australian actress acts them out, sometimes completely disconnected with what she is saying.

The artist applies the manifests of the Futurists, the Dadaists or the Suprematists, to common daily situations. The chameleonic Blanchett does not read the manifests, but acts them out, transforming the room into a Babel tower where sounds blend and our senses are alerted.

Many of the performances are close-ups of the actress. Others are recreated, as for example the one related to Dada, which announces the death of art, so the screen shows the funeral of the husband of the leading character. In the one dedicated to Claes Oldenburg's Pop Art, ironically, a middle class family prays before dinner. In the screen related to Fluxus, which states that the artist belongs to an elitist culture, Blanchett becomes a temperamental Russian choreographer. However, in some of the performances there is no connection between what is being said and what is happening. The only screen in which the actress is not present is the one in which a sentence of the Communist Manifest is being said with the image of a burning flame. The voice just states: “What is solid fades in the air". Maybe this is the answer to today's art.