Manifesta is the European Nomadic Biennial, which takes place in a different host city every two years. Manifesta 15 takes place over 12 weeks, across 12 cities in the Barcelona metropolitan region.

Each of the biennial's 12 cities is grouped into one of three clusters: Balancing Conflicts, Cure and Care and Imagining Futures. They form the basis of the biennial program, with the intention of decentralizing the cultural infrastructure.