Manifesta Reveals Location for 2028 Edition
109Aug. 6, 2025
The organizers ofManifestahave announced that the seventeenth iteration of the nomadic biennial will take place in Coimbra, Portugal, in 2028. Manifesta 17 will be the first edition of the event to take place in Portugal, and it does so at the invitation of and in cooperation with Anozero—Biennial of Contemporary Art, which is staged by the Municipality of Coimbraand the University of Coimbra, which dates to the thirteenth century and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
“Manifesta is entering a new phase of cross-cultural collaboration within the European arts and architecture landscape by partnering with the Coimbra-based biennial Anozero,” said Manifesta director Hedwig Fijen in a statement. “This remarkable initiative, led by Carlos Antunes and Désirée Pedro, reflects a shared commitment to working together across institutions and contexts. We wholeheartedly welcome their vision and believe that such collaborative practices between institutions, communities, collectives, and artists are not only essential but may well represent the future of the art world.”
“This decision is of great significance, as it recognizes the value of a transformative dialogue between art and society, bringing to the city, the region and the country a major cultural event with proven economic return and strong tourism potential,” said Margarida Balseiro Lopes, Portugal’s minister of culture, youth, and sports, in a statement. “Particularly noteworthy in this biennial, beyond its international visibility, is its capacity for urban regeneration with lasting impact and the mobilization and training of national teams.”
The first edition of Manifesta was held in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, in 1996. Subsquent host cities have included Ljubljana, Slovenia; St. Petersburg; Murcia, Spain, in dialogue with northern Africa; Marseille, France; and Prishtina, Kosovo. Manifesta 16 took place in Germany’s Ruhr region.