The first Manifesta was set up in Rotterdam in 1996 and since then this roving biennale has provided a venue for cutting-edge art and discussions on the role of art in European society and culture. Unlike other regular exhibitions, Manifesta moves from place to place: In 1998 it was set up in Luxembourg, in 2000 it had moved to Ljubljana in Slovenia and in 2002 it came to Frankfurt. The core organisational unit is small but builds on a strong and extensive network of art professionals from around Europe, a network that grows with each event as Manifesta moves from city to city. Just as the event has no fixed place, its format is also fluid, taking in exhibitions, publications, conferences and workshops of every kind. Each iteration of the biennale is different, organised in cooperation with local professionals and artists in each place, using and developing local resources and venues. Manifesta has become known for introducing young artists and is a forum for exploring new ways to think about the art scene and its infrastructure in Europe.

Manifesta 7 in the summer of 2008 will be held in Trentino Alto Adige, the northernmost region of Italy, bordering on Austria and Switzerland. Indeed, Alto Adige was part of the Austrian Empire for most of the nineteenth century until it was annexed by Italy in 1999. It is known in German as Südtirol and a third of the population speaks German as a mother tongue, though the majority are Italian-speaking. Both culturally and geographically, the region is a passage point between north and south, linking the transalpine regions of the north to the Mediterranean across the Brenner Pass, the lowest pass across the Alps and thus a traditional route for trade and migration. Reflecting this situation, Manifesta 7 will focus on transitions and the migration of people and ideas across the European continent. New curators are selected for each Manifesta and for the events in 2008, the curators are Adam Budak, Anselm Franke and Hila Peleg. They are joined by the Raqs Media Collective, a group of three media practitioners from New Delhi whose work has often focused on nomadism, transitional cultures and migration.

The curators have selected artists from Iceland to take part in the exhibition in Trentino Alto Adige: Margrét H. Blöndal, Ragnar Kjartansson and the team Libia Pérez de Siles de Castro and Ólafur Árni Ólafsson. This is the first time Iceland has been so well represented in the event though one of Manifesta’s notable early participants was Ólafur Elíasson, who was in the very first show in 1996, then still a relatively young and unknown artist. The exhibition comprises several locations across the region, including unused industrial buildings. It will stretch across “one hundred and fifty kilometres of crossroads of different cultures and intersecting traditions, rich in historical monuments and in sites of industrial archeology”. Manifesta 7 involves four cities which together create a single connecting route along the Brenner Pass axis between the north and south of Europe: Fortezza (Bressanone), the old Alumix factory in Bolzano, the Palazzo delle Poste in Trento, Manifattura Tabacchi and ex-Peterlini factory in Rovereto.