At times clear-cut and programmatic, at times poetic, the language of the manifesto is making a comeback. To explore the relationship between words and architecture and to question the current role of the manifesto in envisioning change in the built environment, CAFx has reiterated the Manifesto Relay.
45 manifestos compiled by CAFx from around the world formed a multidimensional platform of loud expression. In addition to a digital publication on CAFx website, the collection escalated into an exhibition Architecture and the Art of Agitation, investigating through a series of reading club events some influential manifestos in the history of architecture: from Le Corbusier to Patrik Schumacher. The relay is to be continued with a series of debates at the UIA.
By re-activating the Manifesto Relay, CAFx expects the initiative can encourage the development of conscious architectural ideas and spark conversations about the relevance of textual media in architecture. The project launched in 2019 in Denmark has now expanded to an international scale in response to the UIA 2023 Congress of Architects taking place in Copenhagen
Read the full article on Koozarch to learn more about the Manifesto Relay project, reflections from the CAFx Curatorial Team on the revitalisation of the manifesto as a genre and action power of its radical spirit in present conditions, accompanied with illustrative examples of the project's potential.
This article was written in the context of opening Architecture and the Art of Agitation, the exhibition on display from April 27 to May 19 at Halmtorvet 27.
CAFx Curatorial Team is a working group in charge of curating exhibitions within Copenhagen Architecture Festival's program, bringing together knowledge from architectural history, cultural theory and exhibition-making.