Proposed by the Education team of Manifesta 13, Le Tiers Programme (the Third Programme) is a mediation initiative between the main curatorial programme and the citizens of Marseille. The programme is a set of interrelated research-based projects that have been born out of encounters with a variety of local actors, ranging from inhabitants to artists and that will delve into histories and present realities of the city. 

Le Tiers Programme is based on three projects pillars: Invisible Archives, GROUP-THINK and Al Moutawassit, as well as offers a mediation programme in the main biennial venues. The Invisible Archives and GROUP-THINK are presented to public during the biennial.

At the core of the programme is the notion of voicing the unheard, including multiple histories and unrepresented narratives of the city’s common heritage, giving an insight into what Marseille is today and where its complexities come from. It studies remarkable histories of local resistance and community cooperation across the city. It investigates “universal” cultural canons, in which not everybody recognises themselves.  It exercises new forms of community-care and citizenship education and extends the notion of mediation as an instrument for decentralising knowledge production.

Le Tiers Programme has its own temporality in relation to the main curatorial programme, beginning one year before the opening of Manifesta 13 Marseille and concluding after the biennial closes its doors.

WHY LE TIERS PROGRAMME?

Le Tiers Programme derives from Gilles Clément’s notion of Third Landscape: an « undetermined fragment of the planetary garden » consisting of the sum of places given back to nature by man’s neglect.  It is a refuge for diversity left to all biological beings, a territory in the absence of any human decision, a celebration of neighbouring « unattended » spaces.

Le Tiers Programme mediates, adds layers, and traverses parallel narratives. It accompanies the visitors to the main biennial programme and creates space on its margin for those who would like to take more time to explore Marseille’s nuanced histories.

Le Tiers Programme leaves institutional categories, disciplinary divisions, and target groups behind, bringing together projects that are educational, curatorial, research-based, narrative, artistic, and accessible to a broad public.

Discover Le Tiers Programme through a podcast with Yana Klichuk, Head of Education and Mediation: