The flow of energy\u2014as in, the animating force of the universe\u2014takes centre stage here. The Three Chimneys at Sant Adri\u00e0 de Bes\u00f2s, a former thermal power station located on the bank of the Bes\u00f2s River, has stood as a functional monument since 2011. Jeremy Deller\u2019s banner Speak to the earth and it will tell you<\/em> (2024) is dwarfed by the building\u2019s massive presence. Inside, large industrial spaces provide relief from the scorching Mediterranean sun. Works oscillate between natural energetic forces and the remnants of industrialization. Ugo Sciavi\u2019s Autotrophic Spectra<\/em> (2022\u201324) welcomes viewers into a techno-organic installation in the form of a partially enclosed greenhouse. Inside are lush greenery, wires, and a screen playing randomized videos whose flow is said to be generated by the plants themselves. The work is echoed in Alexandra Daisy Ginsberg\u2019s Every Thing Eats Light <\/em>(2024), a stained-glass installation of enlarged plant matter. Both works gesture toward the ecological crises brought on by industrial energy initiatives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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$\"Ugo-Schiavi_AutotrophicSpectra\"$
Ugo Schiavi<\/strong>
Autotrophic Spectra<\/em>, 2022-24, installation view, The Three Chimneys, Barcelona, 2024. Photo: Ivan Erofeev, courtesy of Manifesta 15, Barcelona <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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$\"Alexandra-Daisy-Ginsberg_EveryThingEatsLight\"$
Alexandra Daisy Ginsberg<\/strong>
Every Thing Eats Light,<\/em> installation view, The Three Chimneys, Barcelona, 2024.
Photo: Ivan Erofeev, courtesy of Manifesta 15 Barcelona Metropolitana<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
On the first floor, Dziga Vertov\u2019s archival excerpt from The Eleventh Year<\/em> (1927), a Soviet film celebrating the construction of the Dnipro Hydropower Station, is a poignant reminder of Russia\u2019s most recent invasion of Ukraine in 2022. A few flights up, Emilija \u0160karnulyt\u0117\u2019s Arrow of Time 2<\/em> (2022\u201324) lingers on a shot of a python crawling across the operation keys of an abandoned Soviet nuclear power plant in Lithuania, a near-replica of the ill-fated plant in Chernobyl. Nearby, Asad Raza\u2019s Prehension<\/em> (2024) articulates the movements of the sirocco wind, which reaches the shores of the river from Africa: long, white sheets sway gently thanks to Raza\u2019s removal of the water-facing windows. It feels as though time has slowed down. Behind the work is an illuminated neon sign by the collective Claire Fontaine that reads, \u201cWhen women strike the world stops\u201d (2020).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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$\"Claire-Fontaine_Whenwomenstriketheworldstops\"$
Claire Fontaine<\/strong>
When women strike the world stops,<\/em> 2020, installation view, The Three Chimneys, Barcelona, 2024.
Photo: Ivan Erofeev, courtesy of Manifesta 15 Barcelona Metropolitana<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Women\u2019s work takes up a significant place in the exhibition, evoking the traditional and parallel role of women in textile-making and world-making in Spain\u2014a history that bridged nations and colonies through patterns, industry, and production. Vapor Buxeda Vell, a former textile factory founded in 1852, known for producing its own energy via steam power, houses several key works in this cluster. The exhibition opens with Jonathas de Andrade\u2019s poignant video work Olho da Rua [Out Loud]<\/em> (2022), a powerful unscripted performance by unhoused, non-actor performers in the city of Recife, Brazil. This raw depiction of displacement and resilience is a fitting commentary on the precarious labour conditions still faced by women and marginalized communities globally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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$\"Jonathas-de-Andrade_OlhodaRua[OutLoud]\"$
Jonathas de Andrade<\/strong>
Olho da Rua [Out Loud]<\/em>, 2022, installation view, Vapor Buxeda Vell, Sabadell, 2024.
Photo: Cec\u00edlia Coca, courtesy of Manifesta 15 Barcelona Metropolitana <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
In the See of \u00c8gara, a cluster of churches turned cultural institutions in Tarrasa, the South African artist Buhlebezwe Siwani\u2019s Isaziso<\/em> 1996<\/em> (2024) is a deeply intimate reflection on post-colonial identity. In a work situated near the courtyard, Siwani painstakingly reproduces photographs of her mother and grandmother as three-dimensional sculptures, carving them out of bright green, solid Sunlight soap\u2014a substance symbolizing the ways in which the black body has been historically deemed \u201cunclean\u201d by colonizers and highlighting how colonization sought to control not only people\u2019s bodies but also their sense of self. At the old natural history museum, the artist Eva Chettle created menacing animal hybrids that she refers to as \u201cchimeras\u201d (Various works, <\/em>2012\u201323), which play on themes of monstrosity and otherness. A modern reading of the Chimera myth suggests that the \u201cmonster\u201d was not inherently threatening but merely longing for acceptance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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$\"Buhlebezwe-Siwani_Isaziso\"$
Buhlebezwe Siwani<\/strong>
Isaziso 1996<\/em>, installation view, See of \u00c8gara, Tarrasa, 2024.
Photo: Cec\u00edlia Coca, courtesy of Manifesta 15 Barcelona Metropolitana<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Inside the old museum, bones, skulls, and shells fill the display cases, evoking a stark contrast with the lush garden just outside. My eye lingers on an old illustration of a snail\u2019s vascular system. Once outside, I encounter a real, large living snail, crawling slowly toward the path; I set it in the reverse direction, toward the foliage. It\u2019s strange to think about how quickly some things have changed, and yet our methods of relating to the world, and to nature, haven\u2019t: some might have fossilized. Several works in Manifesta 15 reference the Spanish Civil War, but this historical thread, though poignant, feels overshadowed by the urgent crises currently shaping global discourse. Despite layered reflections on conflict, labour, and ecology, there is a lingering sense that Manifesta, as an institution, is slightly out of step with the current moment. And although all of the artists in the exhibition do a spectacular job of tying together the defining contexts of Barcelona Metropolitana, the festival itself, beautifully curated and thoughtfully executed, seems strangely and apolitically out of touch. Its promise evokes a sense of inertia\u2014there is an undeniable gap between the world Manifesta seeks to engage with and the world as it is today. At a time when the global landscape is rapidly shifting, art institutions, too, must evolve to keep pace. Leaving behind these carefully curated spaces, I am left wondering whether the biennial will change in time to meet the challenges of the present.

<\/p>\n
Alexandra Daisy Ginsberg, Asad Raza, Buhlebezwe Siwani, Claire Fontaine, Jonathas de Andrade, Ugo Schiavi, Xenia Benivolski<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Multiple venues,<\/strong> Barcelona
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