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Afterimage, Nov-Dec, 2004 by Maeve Connolly

Many of the works sited in the 19th century Koldo Mitxelena (Library and CulturalCenter) are also concerned with temporal fragmentation and dislocation. These themes are foregrounded in two documentary video works by Sven Augustijen, entitled Johan (2002) and Francois (2003). Portraying patients suffering from aphasia, they document a progressive loss of linguistic memory and coherency. The sculptural and photographic installations in this site, most notably. Daniel Roth's Glaswaldsee (2003-4) are similarly disjunctive. Recalling Mike Nelson's labyrinthine narratives. Roth's surreal maps and dioramas chart an evolving apocalyptic landscape that is home to nature-loving survivalists, freedom-fighters and terrorists. The exhibition in the Kubo Kutxa Kursaal (arts center, and waterfront landmark) is perhaps the most cohesive, featuring a number of projects that explore the social function of architecture. Vangelis Vlahos constructed models inspired by skyscrapers in various cities, including Atocha Tower in San Sebastian. Many of these structures are no longer standing yet they remain a powerful focus of urban identity, explored through news clippings and transcripts of online discussions with residents of each city.

The Kursaal is also the site of two powerful documentary projects, both characterized by duality. In Route 181 (2003) the Israeli-Palestinian duo Eyal Sivan and Michel Khleifi travel the length of the virtual border created by a 1947 United Nations partition plan, exploring the local strategies employed by residents on each side of the conflict and relying primarily on interviews. Documentary strategies articulate, rather than obscure, the complexities of history and context in this film and in Laura Horelli's paired videos Helsinki Shipyard and Port San Juan (both 2002). As in the case of other works in Manifesta 5, Horelli's project derives much of its resonance from its evolution as a public project. Through a series of interviews. Horelli documents the globalization of labor in the cruise ship business, focusing on the design and construction of the ships in Helsinki and on the conditions of employment endured by the international crews that embark and disembark at Port San Juan, Puerto Rico. These mammoth vessels are home to workers from up to 70 counties at any one time and boast all of the facilities of a "floating city" except, as one shipbuilder notes, a parliament.

Although Donosti is the administrative center of Manifesta 5, nearby Pasaia is home to the largest single exhibition, as well as an ambitious waterfront installation and several off-site interventions. This small port lacks an accessible beach, and its economy has traditionally depended on the fishing industry, rather than tourism. Pasaia clearly lacks Donosti's exclusive boutiques, expensive hotels and stylish bars but, although the contrast is pronounced, it is perhaps slightly over-determined by certain curatorial decisions. Many of the works displayed in the Casa Ciriza, a former fishing warehouse, suggest a nostalgia for urban industrial space, whether as a site of employment, artistic innovation or social interaction. Two kinetic sculptural works. Paolo Pivi's E (2001) and Conrad Shawcross's Circadium (Loop System 3) (2004), are located on the ground floor, along with a film installation by Iliya Chichkan and Kyrill Protsenko, composed from fragments of Soviet documentary film. The accompanying soundtrack fills the space, competing for attention with several other video works exploring urban music cultures. Mark Leckey's complex video collage, Fiorucci Made Me Hardcore (1999) hints at the social and economic structures that gave rise to disco and rave culture in the North of England. In Inaki Garmendia's video installation Harder. Better, Faster, Stronger (2004) the emphasis is on punk rock, the missing link between disco and rave. By inter-cutting shots of a contemporary punk audience with images of disaffected Mayday protesters. Garmendi recasts urban anarchy as nostalgia for an earlier moment in youth culture.