Manifesto is a fictional story about an art school, which on the surface functions as an institute of fine art in a large, consolidated university. Secretly however, the institute operates as an autonomous, experimen­tal school with its own rules for teaching, evaluation, reporting, planning, admissions and management. For example, a ”pseudo-dean” acts as if he is the head of the institute, while students and staff have elected another, unofficial rector. Courses are announced on the digital learning platform, all the while other, secret projects, which only students and teachers know about, are carried out and presented analogously only. Since preparing food at school is not allowed, the students have constructed a kitchen hidden inside a wall, and since they feel that art education should be open for everyone, they invite people into the school undercover.

Ane Hjort Guttu (b. 1971) is an artist living in Oslo. She works in a variety of media, but has in recent years mainly concentrated on film and video works, ranging from investigative documentary to poetic fiction. Her work often contain various forms of power analysis, whether this power unfolds in schools, in the urban landscape or in cultural institutions. A recurrent theme in Guttu's practice is the political potential of art and artists. Guttu is also active as a curator and writer, and she is a professor at Oslo National Academy of the Arts.

Two podcast episodes accompany the screening of Manifest. Have a listen:

Episode 1: Ane Hjort Guttu and artist and writer Lotte Konow Lund on the major changes in Nordic and Norwegian art education in the past 20 years. The conversation is held in Norwegian.

Episode 2: Artists and professors Ane Hjort Guttu and Pedro Gómez-Egaña on the premises of teaching and learning in the new neoliberal art school. The conversation is held in English.