Future Manifestos

ACMI in partnership with ABC RN presents Future Manifestos, an afternoon of short talks investigating the relevance and place of the manifesto today. Organised to coincide with ACMI's Julian Rosefeldt: Manifesto exhibition which meditates on the texts shared in a bygone era, Future Manifestos will take place at ACMI on the afternoon of Sunday 13 March.

The event will pivot on the question; have online platforms and public forums such as panel discussions and televised debates rendered the manifesto defunct? Are manifestos a nostalgic tool for change or do they still invoke a call to action and represent the voice of a generation? Throughout the afternoon, the relevance of manifestos today will be examined in the areas of feminism, environment and sustainability, and political activism.

Hosted by ABC RN's presenter of Big Ideas Paul Barclay, a Walkley Award winning journalist and broadcaster who has an appetite for ideas and in-depth analysis and discussion, each topic will pair two brilliant minds. Guests include writer and social commentator Clementine Ford, Professor Anne Marsh (VCA), writer and broadcaster Jeff Sparrow, researcher Max Halupka (University of Canberra), Climate Council CEO Amanda McKenzie and CLIMARTE CEO Guy Abrahams.

Future Manifestos is on at ACMI to coincide with the world premiere season of Julian Rosefeldt: Manifesto, a major exhibition by the pre-eminent moving image artist which draws from the manifestos of Futurists, Dadaists, Fluxus artists, Suprematists, Situtationists, Dogma 95 and other artist groups, and the musings of individual artists, architects, dancers and filmmakers. In the exhibition, Cate Blanchett captivatingly performs twelve vignettes, each of her characters espousing lines from manifestos created in the decades before broadcast and internet, when artists needed to go to great lengths to have their messages heard.