Manifesto
Seeds.

Manifesto Seeds was developed through A Whitespace Creative Arts (AWCA) Foundation's ongoing collaboration with iranti press, whose work is dedicated to experimental publishing, public research, and cultural production. Both practices share an interest in creating projects that invite people to actively participate in the making of culture.

As part of the broader FESTAC 2077 initiative, Manifesto Seeds began with a simple but ambitious question: how do we collectively imagine a future that does not yet exist? The workshop invited writers, artists, and cultural practitioners to use Lagos as both a subject and a site of speculation, exploring how the city might be documented, preserved, and reimagined through writing.

The programme unfolded across public sites, including the National Public Library in Yaba, Eko Atlantic, and the Lagos Lagoon. Participants moved through the city itself, engaging with its landscapes, histories, and contradictions while experimenting with writing as a tool for observation, inquiry, and future-making. Through a series of collective exercises, the workshop explored questions of memory, public space, authorship, and belonging.

As producers, AWCA coordinated the delivery of the programme across multiple locations, helping transform the city into an active site of learning and exchange. By creating opportunities for participants to gather, write, and imagine together, the project demonstrated how cultural production can become a collective act rather than an individual pursuit.

Manifesto Seeds planted the foundations for an ongoing conversation about public authorship and shared futures. It established the questions, methods, and relationships that would continue to evolve throughout the FESTAC 2077 programme, demonstrating how writing can function as a tool for imagining new possibilities for the city and its communities.