In this epic video installation, artist Julian Rosefeldt has created 13 films in which Cate Blanchett, hurtling from wasted British rocker to exhausted trash worker, polished news anchor to demanding European choreographer, voices the dreams and grand visions of thinkers from Karl Marx to artist Claes Oldenburg. (A linear feature film version of Manifesto premiered at Sundance Film Festival in January).
Some manifestos are hopelessly distorted when pulled from their context; for others, their timelessness and essential truths shine through when reinterpreted. The moments when the videos sync up, and a chorus of impassioned Blanchetts glare out from the walls, their words melding into one wail of discontent, are transcendent.
It's not clear whether the artist is reframing these movements with admiration or derision, and I think about the courage that would be required today to make such bold statements, to claim positions, on anything from aesthetics to politics. Are we living in the post-manifesto age? Are we too cynical to proclaim our ambitions, too disappointed in past revolutions to imagine we can shape the world anew? Do we want the “likes” too much to dare to stand apart?
Manifesto is one of TEDxSydney curator and City of Sydney councillor Jess Scully's top #SydCulture picks as part of Time Out Sydney's 52 Weeks of #SydCulture 2017 challenge.