Topic: What happened around the Manifesta 6 School
My response to the text by Benjamin Seibe on http://manifesta6.medianet.de/forum/viewtopic.php?id=69
1.The host city had not managed to secure any local funding for the project.
2. The curatorial team did not get any concrete information regarding the budget.
A lot of groundless statements surround this matter. The facts and the figures are clear and a matter of record. For the successful organization of an event of this size and nature which began in 2004, and for which an entire infrastructure was set up, contributors from the Cypriot side include the Municipality of Nicosia (cash and in_kind sponsorship, essential services and human resources), the Ministry of Education and Culture, the Cyprus Tourism Organization, as well as a number of other local sponsors. The total amount came to one million Euros. Of this, 175.000 Euros was prepaid to IFM as Franchise Fees.
Unfortunately, and in spite of all the initial promises and commitments made by and on behalf of IFM, the amount from international sponsors was significantly below from the one promised and expected. Many of the sponsorships that were mentioned by IFM did not concern the expenditure of the M6 project, but other activities of IFM, including the requirements for the running costs of the Foundation. As a result false impressions and expectations were created regarding the forecast for the final available budget.
Another augmented promise made by the IFM concerned the organization of a great auction with Sotheby's, involving works of famous artists who had participated in previous Manifesta campaigns, and which would ultimately have provided a sizeable proportion of the required budget. This auction, despite of all assurances made by IFM, in fact never materialised. Other sponsorships, for which initial assurances had been given, concerned the coverage of expenses of participants from various countries, which were again not part of the general expenditure budget.
Furthermore, many of the institutional sponsors of Manifesta reduced their traditional contributions to the minimum (for example, Allianz Kulturstiftung had contributed 150.000 Euro to Manifesta 5, but reduced this sum to 6.000 Euro for Manifesta 6). We have at our disposal all the amounts that were obtained and that were, unfortunately insufficient for the realisation of the program as it was planned. The claim, therefore, that Nicosia for Art did not respond to its commitments is completely unjustified and unsubstantiated. At the same time the claim regarding lack of transparency or of budget mismanagement is equally unfounded and unjustified. The Nicosia Municipality is a public body, which preserves and upholds all necessary legal and accounting procedures.
At the same meeting however, a master-plan document from the General Coordinator Yiannis Toumazis was presented, outlining the administrative plans for the realization of the project, including the following statement: Manifesta 6 will take place on both sides of the Green Line and will utilize venues on both sides of the city including…. confirming the already understood feature of the project as being bi-communal including both parts of the city.
Firstly, we must stress that the initial idea adopted by the Curators as intended in the organization included the creation of one integrated school, which the Curators themselves had decided to locate at the Nicosia Municipal Arts Centre. At the same time, there were to be a number of events within the framework of the school in other buildings such as cinemas, theatres, alternatives spaces, amphitheatres, etc. throughout the whole city. For this purpose, a search was initiated very early on to locate appropriate venues. Unfortunately, given internal problems amongst the Curators, which proved irresolvable in spite of all the efforts on the part of the Host to overcome them, we were led to the splitting of the school into three departments, the responsibility of which would fall upon each of the three Curators accordingly.
Just this past February and while the search for the venues was ongoing throughout the whole city, a proposal for the rental of the Misirlizade Centre in Seray Square in occupied Nicosia was submitted. Despite the fact that the Curators had previously decided that only the buildings which were offered free of charge would be used (as was the case with all previous Manifesta events), the organizers decided to investigate this possibility.
It became clear from the outset that the establishment and operation of a department of the school in the occupied territory on a permanent basis stood in conflict both with Cyprus as well as International Law principles. Due to the obligatory passport check by the non_recognized Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus it was not possible for NFA as the Host of the event, to guarantee free access to participants as well as to the public at large. This was a contractual obligation of the Host. The fact that participation in the main program of the school was obligatory and not optional (as would have been the case for 'one_off' events) created a serious legal problem given that the Host would not be in a position to scrutinize and challenge the unlawful process of passport checks exercised by the authorities of the so called Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus.
Over the course of the following two months, the selection of the participating artists continued, the M6 School application form was formulated and disseminated, venues were selected and the conference in January 2006 was organized by the curatorial team. However, throughout this time there had been no clarity with regards to the artistic budget.
The most serious problems began immediately after the conference in January 2006, when the General Coordinator informed the team that there was no available artistic budget. At the same meeting, he also claimed that he was to approve all artistic choices of the curators and that PR and communication strategies were an issue of the Host city to decide, not to the curators. IFM was immediately contacted to discuss the situation. Until that point, the IFM had known nothing of this problem. A week later, the NFA informed the team about the artistic budget. It was supposed to consist of 300K. If this budget was secure or not had never been clarified. At this stage it became clear for the first time that there would be big problems developing the project without the required financial information. Also, PR and communication was taken formally out of the hands of the curators and from then on all work on those issues ceased – as time went by this situation became so extreme that NFA even wrote to the grafic designers telling them not to speak to the curators! Moreover, shortly after the conference, the invited participants began to send letters of complaints about not receiving their compensation. These types of complaints were not new to the team – the authors of the publication had the same problems two months earlier. The General Coordinator also put the budget on hold and refused to send out invitation letters to artists and scientists unless he would have provided with a detailed budget including production materials, insurances etc. by the team which was hardly possible at that early point, especially since the artists were never provided with any concrete information. He also seized all expenditure for the project.
Unfortunately, and in spite of all the initial promises and commitments made by and on behalf of IFM, the amount from international sponsors was significantly below from the one promised and expected. Many of the sponsorships that were mentioned by IFM did not concern the expenditure of the M6 project, but other activities of IFM, including the requirements for the running costs of the Foundation. As a result false impressions and expectations were created regarding the forecast for the final available budget.
Another augmented promise made by the IFM concerned the organization of a great auction with Sotheby's, involving works of famous artists who had participated in previous Manifesta campaigns, and which would ultimately have provided a sizeable proportion of the required budget. This auction, despite of all assurances made by IFM, in fact never materialised. Other sponsorships, for which initial assurances had been given, concerned the coverage of expenses of participants from various countries, which were again not part of the general expenditure budget.
On February 15th, the curatorial team decided to write a letter to the IFM board outlining the logistic problems they were facing and asked for their support. The letter was written with the complete knowledge and support of the IFM Director Hedwig Fijn. After the letter was sent, Florian Waldvogel flew to Tallin to speak directly with the board that was having a meeting there at this time. The General Coordinator, who is also a member of the board, cancelled the meeting in the last minute.
Unfortunately, the board ignored the complaints as just being usual conflicts between curators and administration, and extended no support. In the meantime, the General Coordinator informed Martin Fritz (member of the IFM board) that the curators have to withdraw their letter or he would sue them for slander.
Due to this escalating problem, Martin Fritz traveled to Nicosia on March 10th for an informal mediation between the curators and the administration. Although many practical considerations were discussed at this mediation, NFA refused to have any minutes taken and refused to consider any decisions taken as binding. Simultaneously, Martin Fritz advised the curators to withdraw their letter to the board as a gesture of goodwill and to try to safeguard the successful realization of M6. The curators withdrew their letter shortly after and it was decided that another meeting would be convened two weeks later at the Berlin Biennial to assess the progress.
As this participant is one of the curatorial team then I take this as a personal but biased view of events.
At the meeting in Berlin in March 2006, the General Coordinator informed the curators and members of the IFM board that it was no longer possible to realize any projects in the northern part of the city as originally envisioned and cited legal reasons for this change. This information came to light only six months prior to the opening of M6, after Anton Vidokle had planned his entire part of the project to take place in the North. Anton Vidokle had provided this information to NFA since the previous October. At no point did the curators question the possibility of working in the North since the bi-communal aspect of the project was never debated before as it is established as a basic premise in their contracts, that of IFM and the city, officials in Nicosia had made many public statements to this effect and NFA had conducted research in the North for venues and had also begun negotiating some possibilities. Moreover, the January conference was partially held in a venue in the North.
Also at no point did the curators have plans to open a school in the north. That idea came later after internal fights between the curators which lead to their decision to split the school.
From that point onwards, the General Coordinator moved out of the office and only dropped in about four times in the two months to follow. The curators became isolated from the staff who were made to feel that had to take sides. Neither contracts nor a payment structure was set up for the participating artists. No venues were secured in either side of the city.
Finally it became clear that an official mediation was necessary as a last resort, and as was outlined in the contracts, Florian Waldvogel and the Financial Manager Nicolas Efstathiou would meet and discuss all issues and within 24 hours they had to reach a decision. Upon arrival, the Financial Manager informed Florian Waldvogel informally that he had been instructed by the Mayor to disagree on all issues. The issues concerned the misinformation about the exhibition budget, the open work permit of Mai Abu ElDahab, the by this time not paid assistant curators, the artist’s contracts that have not been sent out and the still unclear situation about venues in the north part of the city.
This could be intepreted as slander in most courts
His_story... This report is based on the experiences I made during my work as a curatorial assistant in Nicosia at the Manifesta 6 offices. It is not associated to the curators Mai Abu ElDahab, Florian Waldvogel or Anton Vidokle in any way.
So this had to be added so as not to legally bind the curators huh? Another story which shows that the curators have no balls to enter the discussion and they are relying on their stooges to write their view of events.[
The moral of this story? The curators went to a divided country, 40 per cent of which is under turkish occupation as confirmed by numerous UN resolutions. They were suposed to organise a bicommunal event in that country but at some point they forgot who is their host, whose houses were stolen whose peoples are missing and whose country they were supposed to organise that event for.
These curators were supposed to organise one school but even between the three of them and the limited history they shared together did not manage that! What they opted is for a divided school which they expected that it would unite the island.
On failing their (whatever) mission, forums started to pupulate. First the original M6 forum (now off line but some archive saved here), then the neme forum and now this.
Let us see some of that history.
In search of a balanced view by Helene Black posted in the M6 forum and in the neme forum. The title of the text decribes its content. Notice the agressive responses.
What we would have lost posted by me in M6 and neme. Notice the agressive responses.
Then Doublethink by Yiannis in neme and M6. Do I need to mention about the responses again.
Then Doublethink 2 by Yiannis on neme and finally
Hiding behind an alias by Helene Black on neme
The latest text posted is a cautionary tale by Christopher Gordon
Enjoy the readings above including their responses. I hope that they will remain as testament to the real M6 intentions. What the dpt3 forum forum represents to me is the culmination of the attacks by M6 against a people whom (M6) did not even bother learn their history