Berlin comic artist Nino Bulling not only exhibited large-scale drawings on silk at documenta fifteen in Hafenstraße, they also initiated a two-week workshop together with the Lebanon-based collective Samandal Comics for queer, trans, and gender-neutral artists. This collaboration has resulted in the now published anthology "Cutes - Collected Queer and Trans Comics," a bilingual (English and Arabic) anthology of contemporary queer and trans comics.

The publication comprises short stories by twelve artists exploring multiple facets of LGBTQIA+ identities through the medium of graphic storytelling.

Artists: Aki Hassan, Bear Kittelmann, Barrack Rima, Bilge Emir, Joseph Kai, Michel Esselbrügge, Mloukhiyyé Al-Fil, Natyada Tawonsri, Nino Bulling, Nour Hifaoui, Nygel Panasco, Romy Matar.

Available here!

Metamorphoses of the Book

"As a mediator of information, the book is a "Körpermuffel": if the reader immerses himself in the content, the book increasingly loses its physicality, its visibility and evidence. The reader's fingertips forget that they have a book in their hands; his eyes forget the shape of the letters they are reading. The book disappears in its physicality from the reader's consciousness. [...] Things are different with the artist's book. The book, conveying its own aesthetic information, claws its way into the consciousness of the reader with the totality of its physical, sensual stimuli."

With these emphatic words, Rolf Dittmar sums up the special nature of the book as an artistic medium in the documenta 6 catalog: at that time, for the first time, artists' books, book objects, and "concept books" were presented in a separate section within a documenta. In 1977, Dittmar (1924-​1999), a lawyer from Wiesbaden and passionate book collector, together with the New York art historian and critic Peter Frank, was in charge of the conception of the section "Metamorphoses of the Book" on the upper floor of the Neue Galerie. Based on the revival of the book art and painter's book movement of the 1960s, the show brought together such diverse positions as Dieter Roth's bound and punched clippings of Icelandic daily newspapers, Gerhard Rühm's concrete poetry, Timm Ulrich's invitation "Always remember to forget me" carved in stone (as a tombstone in the form of an opened book), or Alice Koch's "Knüll-Book" - a plastic-​bound crumpled object in a plastic bag.

On the basis of selected highlights, our current studio exhibition provides insight into the collection of artists' books in the documenta archiv's special library. The presentation throws a special spotlight on the historical documenta 6 book art section, supplemented by diverse documentary material on special book art works from the history of documenta: from Hubertus Gojowczyk's brick "Door to the Library" (created for documenta 6, 1977, today a permanent installation in the Neue Galerie) to Marta Minujín's Parthenon of Books (1983/2017, documenta 14) to the lumbung press of documenta fifteen.

The exhibition is complemented by a small library selection with literature to browse and read.
We cordially invite you! Enter the world of book art and be sensually clawed.
Curated by Emily Denyer and André Biribanti.
On view in the reading room of the documenta archive
Culture House Dock4 Untere Karlsstr. 4, 34117 Kassel, Germany
Tuesday to Friday 9.00 to 16.00

Die documenta und Museum Fridericianum gGmbH nimmt mit einem vielseitigen Programm vom Fridericianum, dem documenta archiv, dem documenta Institut sowie der documenta Halle (mit dem documenta Forum und 7000 Eichen e.V.) an der Kasseler Museumsnacht teil. Das Programm im Einzelnen:


Samstag 2. September 2023

Busrundfahrt „7000 Eichen"
Busfahrten zu ausgesuchten Standorten des Kunstwerks “7000 Eichen”.
16 Uhr / 17.30 Uhr /19 Uhr | Treffpunkt: Zwischen den beiden Eichen am Friedrichsplatz / gegenüber dem Portal des Fridericianums

Die documenta gGmbH bereitet sich auf die documenta 16 vor
Gespräch mit Andreas Hoffmann Geschäftsführer der documenta und Museum Fridericianum gGmbH
17 Uhr | documenta Halle

Kunst zum Mitmachen
Workshop
17 – 20 Uhr | Fridericianum

BBQ, Kaltgetränke und Musik
17 – 22 Uhr | Fridericianum

Kurzführung im Fridericianum
Führung durch die Ausstellungen Tauba Auerbach TIDE und DIAGONAL PRESS LIBRARY
17.30 Uhr / 18.30 Uhr / 19.30 Uhr / 20.30 Uhr / 21.30 Uhr / 22.30 Uhr | Fridericianum

Pläne für die Konstruktion eines documenta Instituts
Gespräch mit Heinz Bude, Direktor des documenta Instituts
18.15 Uhr | documenta Halle

Über die documenta reden – ein neuer Versuch
Gespräch mit Saskia Trebing, monopol – Magazin für Kunst und Leben
19.30 Uhr | documenta Halle

„Aktion B“ – Beuys pflanzt eine Eiche
Ein Kurzfilm zum Ende der documenta fifteen, Kassel 2022
21 Uhr | documenta Halle

Kurzfilmprogramm
Eine filmische Zeitreise in die documenta Ausstellungen
20.15 Uhr / 21.45 Uhr / 23.15 Uhr | Open Air Kino im Hof des Kulturhaus Dock 4


Sonntag 3. September 2023

documenta 4, 1968 (BE) Regie: Jef Cornelis
Ausstellungsfilm
13 Uhr | Gloria Kino

Fridericianum Gastro
Frische Waffeln und Sonntagsmusik
13 – 17 Uhr | Fridericianum

Kurzführung im Fridericianum
Führung durch die Ausstellungen Tauba Auerbach TIDE und DIAGONAL PRESS LIBRARY
13.30 Uhr / 14.30 Uhr / 15.30 Uhr / 16.30 Uhr | Fridericianum

Was will uns die kunstschaffende Person damit sagen?
Rätseltour für Groß und Klein
14 – 16 Uhr | Fridericianum

documenta live: Performance, Aktion, Ritual.
Performances auf der documenta 8, 1987 (DE), Regie: Thomas Göttemann, Michael Leidenheimer, Knut Schäfer, 45 Min. (gekürzte Fassung)
14.15 Uhr | Gloria Kino

„Aktion B“ – Beuys pflanzt eine Eiche
Ein Kurzfilm zum Ende der documenta fifteen, Kassel 2022
15 Uhr | documenta Halle

documenta 14 goes to Athens, 2017 (DE)
Regie: Jacqueline Kaess‐Farquet, 90 Min.
15.15 Uhr | Gloria Kino


Das vollständige Programm der Museumsnacht, mit einem vielfältigen Veranstaltungsangebot aller Partner*innen, finden Sie hier.

Der ostdeutsche Kunstkritiker und Ausstellungsmacher Lothar Lang bezeichnete die documenta 1959 als „Monsterschau“ – nur eines der Urteile, in dem sich die politisch-​kulturellen Spannungen beider deutscher Staaten wie in einem Brennglas verdichten. Welches Bild machten sich Kunstakteur*innen in Ost-​Berlin, Dresden oder im damaligen Karl Marx-​Stadt von der „wichtigsten Kunstausstellung der westlichen Welt“ in Kassel und wie schauten umgekehrt die künstlerisch-​kuratorischen Teams um Arnold Bode, Harald Szeemann, Manfred Schneckenburger, Rudi Fuchs oder Jan Hoet auf die DDR, auf Kulturfunktionär*innen und die Kunstproduktion des Nachbarlandes? In ihrer materialreichen Studie „Exhibition Politics. Die documenta und die DDR“ geht die Kunst- und Kulturhistorikerin Alexia Pooth diesem besonderen Kapitel Kasseler Ausstellungsgeschichte anhand zahlreicher, bislang unveröffentlichter Quellenmaterialien aus Ost und West nach. Vor der Folie des Kalten Krieges, Phasen politischer Annäherung und dem Fall der Mauer, zeichnet die Autorin die komplexe Rezeptions-​ und Wahrnehmungsgeschichte nach, in der es trotz politischer und ideologischer Frontstellungen immer auch zu Dialogen und Austausch kam. In Bundesrepublik und DDR diente die documenta der politischen Positionierung, und war zugleich ein Ort der Fremd- und Selbstwahrnehmung, generierte kulturelle, politische und soziale Identitäten. Der inhaltliche Bogen reicht von den frühen documenta Ausstellungen bis zu Catherine Davids documenta X im Jahr 1997, deren historischer Rückblick auch die veränderte geopolitische Lage der Welt nach 1990 reflektierte. Neben historischen Analysen bietet der Band entlang unterschiedlicher Textformen eine vielseitige Zusammenstellung von Dokumenten, Zeitzeug*inneninterviews, Künstler*innenportraits und Bilderstrecken, die ihn zu einem kurzweiligen Lesebuch machen.

„Exhibition Politics. Die documenta und die DDR“ erscheint im Frühjahr 2024 in der Schriftenreihe des documenta archivs.

The Fridericianum is pleased to announce the release of a digital book on the work of Vincent Fecteau. With texts by Mark Godfrey, Fanny Singer, and Moritz Wesseler, the publication not only attempts an empathic approach to the work of the artist, who was born in 1969 in Islip, New York, but also situates it in an art-historical and socio-political context.


Accessible on the Fridericianum-Website.

documenta fifteen artist Amol K Patil is the first artist to receive the Durjoy Bangladesh Foundation/Kochi-Muziris Biennale (DBF-KMB) Award. The honor comprises an exhibition and lecture program lasting several years, initiated by the Hayward Gallery, the Durjoy Bangladesh Foundation, and the Kochi Biennale Foundation. The award also offers a South Asian artist a first institutional solo show in Great Britain.

Amol K Patil was selected on the basis of his installation The Politics of Skin and Movement, shown at the fifth edition of the Kochi-Muziris Biennale. The installation questions the conditions of work, the caste system, and the body and is based on the artist’s family archive and the legacy of his grandfather, a poet as well as his father, an avantgarde dramatist.

For his first solo exhibition the artist will create a new iteration of his work, consisting of a constellation of drawings, sculptures, kinetic objects, and moving images.

The exhibition will run from October 9 to November 19, 2023 at the Heni Project Space in the Hayward Gallery in London, Great Britain.

The focus of the twelfth edition of Momentum, curated by Tenthaus Art Collective, is to experiment with non-hierarchical models for the curation of biennials. Practiced here is a method of collecting aimed at working from the artistic approaches of the participants, in order to subsequently highlight their commonalities. Through this practice, the curators aim to reach out to their entire ecosystem, both locally and internationally, so as to involve diverse actors who will realize a variety of art projects over the course of the biennial. Through this process, MOMENTUM 12: Together as to gather explores what intuitively emerges from the confluence of people, places, and times. As part of an open, participatory process centered around local contexts, the members of the Tenthouse collective each invited one artist or collective.

The Indonesian educational platform Gudskul – consisting of the three collectives ruangrupa, Serrum, and Grafis Huru Hara – is likewise involved here. ruangrupa also invited Gudskul to documenta fifteen as one of fourteen lumbung members to play a significant role in shaping the exhibition. Based on the idea of the Kassel ruruHaus, Gudskul initiated the GUDHAUS in Norway, which functions not only as a space for the exchange of knowledge and collaborative processes, but also as an archive for the collective's interventions and projects. Outside, you will find the Gudkitchen, which was a communal kitchen for all residents at documenta fifteen in Kassel that became a central meeting point for friends, karaoke, and home-cooked food – thereby representing the guiding principle of nongkrong – "hanging out together."

MOMENTUM 12 at Galleri F 15 on the island of Jeløya in Moss, Norway is still open to visitors until October 8, 2023.

Three international scholarship holders from the Goethe-​Institut will be visiting Kassel for the third time this year. The scholarship is aimed at scholars, artists and curators from all over the world. Since June, the documenta archive team has been strengthened by Claudia Cendales Paredes from Bogotá and Rahul Dev Prasad from New Delhi, whom we would like to introduce briefly:

Claudia Cendales Paredes holds a doctorate in art history (TU Berlin). In Bogotá she works as a lecturer and is involved in various cultural projects. Her research project at the documenta archiv deals with the participation of Latin American artists in the documenta exhibitions between 1959 and 1997: How can their marginal representation be explained? And what was the relationship of the artists from South and Central America presented to the curatorial discourses and debates of the respective documenta? Her study with the working title "Europeans, Hybrids or Exotics?" aims at a more differentiated view of the documenta in the globalized, international art scene.

Rahul Dev Prasad teaches art history at the National Museum Institute in Delhi (NCR), India. His dissertation (Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi) deals with the reception of German Expressionism in modern Indian art. In the documenta archiv, he is researching on "The Shifting Boundaries of documenta and the Manifestation of 'Global Postcolonial Art' (1997- 2002)." Using the tenth and eleventh editions of documenta as an example, he focuses on decolonial movements in the art field and contemporary practices of multicultural art. Does the documenta play a decisive role in the dissemination of postcolonial ideas and decolonial thinking in art?

Welcome to Kassel!

Manifesta 15 (9/8 – 11/24/2024) creates a new framework for social and environmental research, actions, and interventions. Selected participants hailing from the fields of art, science, law, architecture, human rights, activism, and education will explore three nodes in the Barcelona metropolitan region: along the Besòs River, in the Llobregat Delta, and in the Collserola Mountains. Working with local experts and communities, the research will seek to find new and alternative ways to highlight the climate crisis and pinpoint environmental and social changes needed in each region.

The collaborative initiative INLAND, among four other participating groups, has been invited to focus on a specific research project examining Catalan educational renewal movements. The project aims to shed light on how these historical movements have contributed to social change and what they can teach us today. INLAND will look at the history of schools, such as the Escola del Bosc built at the beginning of the 20th century featuring outdoor classrooms offering children a place to learn in nature.

The projects developed in this research phase will serve as a conceptual framework for an Open Call for local projects in September 2023.

At documenta fifteen (2022), the vertical farm at the school Offene Schule Waldau was one of the key sustainability projects financed via the "sustainability euro" included in the admission ticket. Unfortunately, the school now has to discontinue the project, which is no longer profitable.

documenta und Museum Fridericianum gGmbH regrets this development, especially in view of the students and teachers who have shown great personal commitment to osWertical. The vertical greenhouse sought to achieve high crop yields through rapid harvest cycles with low energy consumption. However, due to harvests being delayed by a week in practice, it was not possible to run it profitably in the long term. Furthermore, it was no longer viable to meet the logistical challenge in the day-to-day running of the school.
In the shipping container, which was designed by students together with lumbung member Wajukuu Art Project, a vertical farm was created that would produce as much fruit and vegetables in 30 square meters as an arable surface of 6,000 square meters. In the spirit of lumbung practice, not only was the harvest to be shared among the students, but there was also to be an exchange of knowledge. "The possibility of failure is part and parcel of progressive projects," says Dr. Andreas Hoffmann, Managing Director of documenta und Museum Fridericianum gGmbH, "Of course, we are now keeping all our fingers crossed that a committed partner to run the farm can be found."

Tauba Auerbach, born in 1981 in San Francisco and now living in New York, traces the visible and invisible patterns, structures, and rhythms that shape our universe. Likewise, Auerbach’s artistic gaze is oriented towards the microcosmic and macrocosmic that constitute the complexity of being. To this end, the artist explores various scientific disciplines, such as mathematics, physics, anatomy, linguistics, and philosophy while not infrequently adopting their rules and methods in an unconventional, willful manner. A special focus of interest lies on those areas that cannot be clearly measured, ascribed, or explained. Ambiguities, interstices, and borderline phenomena are thus a recurring theme. Auerbach’s works, featuring paintings, drawings, weavings, films, artist’s books, typography, and sculptures, can be seen as sensitive associations of this artistic research. They are, on the one hand, characterized by an innovative, and in some cases highly unusual aesthetic and language of form and, on the other, by a remarkable versatility, affording Auerbach a unique position in contemporary art discourse. The show at the Fridericianum features new works, some developed especially for Kassel, which are complemented by older, site-specific staged pieces.

Opening: Friday, July 14, 2023, 7 pm

The publishing project Diagonal Press was founded by Tauba Auerbach in 2013 and aims to continuously give more space to their experiments in the fields of typography, book design and production, as well as the applied arts. The spectrum of its output ranges from books, calendars, posters, and flags to toys, accessories, and jewelry. These are produced in unlimited and unsigned editions in order to make them accessible to a broad public. Under the title DIAGONAL PRESS LIBRARY, the Fridericianum presents a selection of printed matter and objects published by Diagonal Press, which visitors are invited to explore and engage with.

Opening: Friday, July 14, 2023, 7 pm

A survey exhibition
From February 2024 at Fridericianum

The 2023 Goethe Medal was awarded to the curatorial collective of the OFF-Biennale, the largest independent contemporary art event in Hungary. The OFF-Biennale Budapest reflects current social, political, and ecological issues via artistic means, reads the jury statement. "Here the Biennale runs explicitly without state funding. With the Goethe Medal, we hope to strengthen the work of these excellent individuals and groups in their cultural context," explains Goethe Institute President Carola Lentz.

At documenta fifteen, the collective was one of the lumbung members designing, among other things, the exhibition space in and around the boat rental Ahoi. Artists, collectives, architects, and children developed new companionships here and used and changed the space.

The Goethe Medal has been awarded annually since 1955 as an official badge of honor of the Federal Republic of Germany to personalities "who have made a special contribution to worldwide cultural exchange or to the teaching of the German language."

The jury statement continued: "This year's prizewinners are inspiring enablers and mediators, creating places of encounter and diverse perspective. They make a significant contribution to cultural understanding and global exchange and to freedom of expression and the arts." The award ceremony will be held in Weimar on August 28.

From May 30, the café will be open Tuesday to Sunday from 11 am to 8:30 pm. Enjoy coffee, specialty teas, and delicious cold drinks as well as organic cakes and sandwiches on the sun terrace or in Kerstin Brätsch’s installation MIMIKRY!

With the second edition of the Proposal List, Staatstheater Kassel and documenta archiv will be extending an invitation to delve together into the depths of archival work. Theatrical means will be used to visualize the tangible complexity of artistic and curatorial processes in the archive. At the heart of the lecture-performance is German-Jewish artist Charlotte Salomon (1917–1943) and her work "Leben? oder Theater?" ("Life? or Theater?"). Here she tells the stories of her Jewish family – a tragedy caught between persecution, fear and hope, between personal traumas, loneliness and longing for love, spanning the First World War through to the period of the Second World War. With the performance on June 1, we see Charlotte Salomon return to the Rotunda of the Fridericianum after eleven years: selected gouaches by the artist were already on show here at documenta 13. Today's performers will explore the aesthetic radicalism and multimedia facets of her work in dialogue with Kerstin Brätsch's installation Mimikry.

Thursday, June 1, 2023, 8 pm

Rotunda, Fridericianum

Further Information can be found here: https://www.documenta-archiv.de/de/aktuell/termine/3426/vorschlagsliste-2-eine-art-lecture-zu-charlotte-salomons-leben-oder-theater-ein-singespiel

Tickets are available in advance from the box office or via the website of Staatstheater Kassel.

On May 2, 2023, the Arnold Bode Prize 2022 was ceremoniously awarded to documenta fifteen lumbung member Wajukuu Art Project at the Brüderkirche Kassel. In Ann Mbuti's laudation, she particularly emphasized the community-oriented artistic practice of the artist*s collective from Nairobi:

"At the beginning of the curatorial concept of the past documenta (...) was a rethinking. The lumbung principle aimed not to make the participating collectives contribute something to the world-renowned art show, but to support them in their work and to show the fruits of it in Kassel (...). Instead of asking what the individual actors, the artists, collectives and creative communities can do for documenta, the question was: What can documenta do for these actors? Exactly this change of perspective also happens in the Wajukuu Art Project with regard to art itself: No discourse, no "l'art pour l'art" thinking determines its activities, but the will to change something in the reality of life in Mukuru - with the help of art. Wajukuu does not ask what the collective can do for the discourse, for art, but asks what can art do for its community? Wajukuu puts artistic practice at the beginning of a new vision for their community."

Accompanying the award ceremony, a presentation curated by Andrea Linnenkohl featuring works by Wajukuu will be on view through May 4 from 11 am to 6 pm at the Brüderkirche (Steinweg/Renthof). The works are available through Lumbung Gallery.

Please find here the press release of the city of Kassel

At documenta fifteen Richard Bell's, Aboriginal Tent Embassy, a traveling artwork already touring the world since 2013, was on show on Kassel's central Friedrichsplatz. The tent offers a public space where tales of resistance, survival, displacement, and oppression are told while also offering the opportunity to imagine a future where Aborigines and other Indigenous people can occupy an equal place in society. The program in London also includes the work Pay the Rent II, likewise on show at documenta fifteen: in the form of a digital debt clock mounted on the facade of the Fridericianum Richard Bell calculated the reparations owed by the Australian government to Indigenous peoples accumulating from 1901. "The reason for this work is to show that it's too expensive to play this colonization game. Don't do it, because you'll never be able to pay for it," comments the artist.

learn more

The National Museum of Contemporary Art Athens (EMΣΤ) and the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center (SNFCC) present the outdoor installation Return to Sender by the Nairobi-based collective Nest. The installation, realized as part of documenta fifteen 2022, will be on view on the SNFCC's central esplanade from April 26 to September 30, 2023.

Return to Sender alludes to a dystopian waste landscape: The work references consumer societies in industrialized countries alike as it highlights the negative impact of the used clothing industry on local economies in Kenya and other parts of Africa. Up to 40 percent of a bale of imported secondhand clothing is completely unusable and ends up directly in landfills, an immense risk for the people who have to purchase the bales sight unseen and earn a living with it.

Learn more

“As Artistic Directors of former documenta exhibitions, we were asked by documenta and Museum Fridericianum gGmbH to submit a proposal for the composition of the finding committee for documenta 16. After in-depth discussion, we have agreed on a number of outstanding personalities, in whom we place our complete trust. They are Bracha L. Ettinger, Gong Yan, Ranjit Hoskoté, Simon Njami, Kathrin Rhomberg, and María Inés Rodríguez.

We are aware that the institution documenta and its actual modus operandi are currently being tested. This makes it all the more important to fill the finding committee with personalities whose expertise, integrity and prudence do justice to the seriousness of the situation.
We do not wish to conceal the fact that our discussion was subject to a strict condition. It was the wish of the shareholders not to make the documenta 16 search committee the subject of a renewed BDS debate. We have accepted this wish, but would like to emphasize that artistic freedom must be protected and that the right to criticize the behavior of any state is part of the democratic process.”

Catherine David (documenta 10), Roger M. Buergel (documenta 12), Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev (documenta 13), and Adam Szymczyk (documenta 14).

Pınar Öğrenci's film "Aşît" (2022), produced for documenta fifteen, has been nominated for the Nyon Visions du Réel International Film Festival in the International Medium Length category. She self-describes her work as "decolonial and feminist readings from the intersections of social, political, and anthropological research, everyday practices, and human stories that track migration causes such as war, state violence, collective movements, and industrial and urban development projects." More on the work „Aşît“ you can find here. The Visions du Réel festival of non-fictional films is considered one of the most important in the world. It starts this year on April 20 and ends with the award ceremony on April 30, 2023.

The Finding Committee of documenta 16 consists of six renowned international experts in contemporary art: Bracha Lichtenberg Ettinger, Gong Yan, Ranjit Hoskoté, Simon Njami, Kathrin Rhomberg, and María Inés Rodríguez. The Supervisory Board at documenta gGmbH today appointed the Finding Committee for the exhibition, which will be held in Kassel from June 12 to September 19, 2027.

The Finding Committee has the task of inviting pioneering figures in contemporary art to apply to take on the role of Artistic Direction of documenta 16, and to select the most promising format from the concepts presented. Appointment of the Artistic Direction is targeted for late 2023 / early 2024.

"Today we are taking an important step towards documenta 16," declare Chairman of the Supervisory Board and Lord Mayor of Kassel, Christian Geselle, and Deputy Chairman of the Supervisory Board, Hesse's Minister for Science and the Arts, Angela Dorn. "We have been able to enlist six eminent experts from throughout the world who, with their different artistic, curatorial and cultural-theoretical backgrounds and indeed as individuals, together stand for the modernity, internationality, and diversity of documenta. The Finding Committee now has ample time to attract the best and most innovative concepts to Kassel. It is our goal to address the shortcomings surrounding the issue of anti-Semitism at documenta fifteen. Prerequisites for the next steps, including the already agreed organizational development , are in place. At the same time, we wish to give the world's most important exhibition of contemporary art the planning time and space and security that its unique status deserves. With the Finding Committee in place, we are ideally positioned to do so."

In appointing the Committee, the Supervisory Board is following the proposal of former documenta Artistic Directors who were entrusted with this task in November 2022: Catherine David (documenta 10, 1997), Roger M. Buergel (documenta 12, 2007), Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev (documenta 13, 2012), and Adam Szymczyk (documenta 14, 2017).

The outgoing Managing Director of documenta und Museum Fridericianum gGmbH Ferdinand von Saint André thanks those involved: “I would particularly like to acknowledge the efforts of documenta's former Artistic Directors. They have made their expertise available to us in difficult times out of their attachment to the organization. I would also like to thank the Supervisory Board, which prioritized the establishment of the Finding Committee following this proposal. Finally, I sincerely thank the members of the Finding Committee for entrusting documenta with their expertise to lay the foundation for documenta 16."

"We sincerely thank Ferdinand von Saint André for leading documenta und Museum Fridericianum gGmbH with great commitment during a difficult phase," said Geselle and Dorn on behalf of the Supervisory Board. "It took courage to take on this task and clarity of direction to complete it within the clearly defined interim period. Ferdinand von Saint André brought both of these things to the table. Andreas Hoffmann, who will take over as Managing Director on May 1, will find a documenta gGmbH that is well prepared for the upcoming changes."

The incoming Managing Director is delighted with the Supervisory Board's decision: "With the Finding Committee presented today, we are attracting six top-flight personalities from the world of contemporary art to documenta 16. I look forward to the process and thank Ferdinand von Saint André for setting this up during his tenure."

Members of the Finding Committee:

Bracha Lichtenberg Ettinger is painter, visual artist, philosopher, psychoanalyst and a groundbreaking theorist whose Matrixial theory has impacted the contemporary fields of ethics and aesthetics, critical studies, art theory and art history, film and literary studies, and feminism for more then three decades now. Based in Tel Aviv and Paris, her artworks have been presented at major museums of contemporary art worldwide, including Kochi-Muziris Biennale (2018), Istanbul Biennial (2015), “Face à l'Histoire” (1996) and “ELLES” (2011) both at Centre Pompidou, Paris. Currently she participates in “Artists in a Time of War at Castello di Rivoli”, Turin, where she also presents a solo show in parallel. Her books include: "Matrix: Halala Lapsus" (1993), "The Matrixial Gaze" (1995), “Régard et éspace-de-bord matrixiels” (1999), “The Matrixial Borderspace” (2006), “Proto-ética matricial” (2019), “Matrixial Subjectivity, Aesthetics, Ethics: 1990-2000” (2020).

Gong Yan graduated from Ecole Nationale Superieur des Beaux-Art, Paris, and is a professor at Shanghai Institute of Visual Art and former Chief-Editor of Art World magazine. Since 2013 she has been the director of Power Station of Art. Gong Yan lebt in Shanghai. While still an artist at the 6. Shanghai Biennale in 2006, she moved into the curatorial field and had curated exhibitions such as “Ordinary Architecture” – The Chinese Pavilion in the 11. International Architecture Venice Biennale (2012, together with Yong-ho Chang and A Cheng), “Shinohara Kazuo” (2014), “Mobile Architecture: Yona Friedman” (2015), “Snacks” (2016), “PSA Collection Series Yu Youhan” (2017), “PSA Collection Series Li Shan” (2017), “Body Media” (2007 and 2017), “HON: Niki de Saint Phalle & Shen Yuan” (2018), “Hussein Chalayan: Archipelago” (2021/2022).

Ranjit Hoskoté is a writer, cultural theorist, art critic and curator, he lives in Mumbai. Hoskoté is the author of more than 30 books, including volumes of poetry, art criticism, cultural history, translation, and edited anthologies. His curatorial projects include the 7. Gwangju Biennale (2008), which he co-curated with Okwui Enwezor and Hyunjin Kim, and the first-ever national pavilion of India at the 54. Venice Biennale. In 2023 Hoskoté will be part of the Architecture Biennale in Venice.

Simon Njami is a Paris-based independent curator, lecturer, art critic, and novelist. Njami was co-founder and editor-in-chief of Revue Noire. He was artistic director of the first Johannesburg Art Fair (2008), the Bamako Photography Biennial, the Dak'Art Biennial (2016/2018), and the São Paulo Biennial. He was co-curator of the first African Pavilion at the 52. Venice Biennale (2007). Njami has curated numerous exhibitions including "Africa Remix" (2004/2007), "The Divine Comedy" at MMK - Museum für Moderne Kunst in Frankfurt, "SCAD" in Savannah (both 2014) and "The Smithsonian" in Washington DC (2015), "Xenopolis" in Berlin (2015), "After Eden, The Artur Walther Collection" in Paris (2015), "Metropolis" and "I is another" (both in Rome 2018), "The Studio" as part of the Kampala Biennale 2019, "This space between us" in Las Palmas (2020) and “Materia Prima” in San Giminiano (2021).

Kathrin Rhomberg is a curator and headed the exhibition office of Secession in Vienna from 1990 to 2001 and the Kölnischer Kunstverein from 2002 to 2007. Since 2014 she has been chairwoman of the board of the Trägerverein der Kontakt Sammlung and its artistic director. She curated, among others, Roman Ondak for the Czech and Slovak Pavilion at the 53. Venice Biennale (2009), the 6. Berlin Biennale (2010), Petrit Halilaj for the Pavilion of the Republic of Kosovo at the 55. Venice Biennale (2013) and co-curated, among others, Manifesta 3, Ljubljana (2000) and "Projekt Migration", Cologne, (2002-2006). Kathrin Rhomberg lives in Vienna and teaches also there at the University of Applied Arts.

María Inés Rodríguez ( lives and works in Brussels and São Paulo) has a curatorial and institutional practice relating to consolidate the museum as a platform for knowledge trough the exhibition, cultural and educational programs. She is currently director of the Walter Leblanc Foundation and curator at large at MASP, Museu de Arte de São Paulo Assis Chateaubriand.
In parallel, Rodríguez is part of Tropical Papers, an inclusive cultural forum, which she founded in 2005, dedicated to developing a reflection on art, architecture, design and scientific research and to making visible the work and projects of cultural practitioners from and in the tropics. She was previously the Director of CAPC Muséed’art Contemporain of Bordeaux in France, chief curator of the MUAC in Mexico City, chief curator at the Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Castilla y Léon (MUSAC) in Spain and Guest Curator at Jeu de Paume in Paris.
Since 2017 she is Member of the Martell Foundation’s Board in France, and Member of the jury of The Lise Wilhelmsen Art Award Programme2019-2024 at the Henie Onstad Kunstsenter in Norway. From 2017 until 2019 she was President of Comité Art Citoyen France, Fondation Daniel et Nina Carasso.

Press release for download

documenta press contact
Johanna Köhler
Head of Communications and Marketing
documenta und Museum Fridericianum gGmbH
T +49 561 70727-2520
presse@documenta.de

The staging by artist collective Atis Rezistans, produced together with Ghetto Biennale for documenta fifteen, has been named "Exhibition of the Year 2022" by the German section of the International Association of Art Critics (AICA).

Atis Rezistans | Ghetto Biennale presented an extensive ensemble of sculptures and reliefs in the church of St. Kunigundis, which, in the jury's verdict: "was arranged in a demanding, playful, mysterious, and ironically whispering manner". It continued: "Created against the backdrop of the cult of the Virgin Mary and voodoo, it was an unusual dialogue of art, a place of the grotesque, creative savagery, and the presence of death."

The lumbung Press was a project by the lumbung members, lumbung artists, and the Artistic Team of documenta fifteen. It now has a new home in Barcelona.

The idea was to create a direct flow of information through the unfiltered sharing of images and narratives. At its core, the project consisted of a collectively run offset print section at documenta Halle, its printed products, and the accompanying events. Print engineers instructed lumbung artists, lumbung members, members of the Artistic Direction and other participants on how to operate the machines independently. The ensuing publications were then made available through lumbung kios, in bookstores, and in the artists’ own ekosistems. Following on from this principle, the lumbung Press has now found a new home in Barcelona. The opening at the Hangar in Barcelona will be held on Sunday, March 12, 2023, at 12 noon. Posters by Tim Rudolph, Fred Hansen, and Erick Beltrán will be printed live on site. The opening program will also feature talks with ruangrupa and Madeyoulook, as well as projections by Subversive Film and Sebastián Díaz Morales. The lumbung Press is planned to remain accessible at the Hangar for one year.

The 2022 Arnold Bode Prize has been awarded to the Wajukuu Art Project collective, whose installations in documenta Halle made, amongst other things, of sheets of rusty corrugated metal were on display at documenta fifteen. This ensemble of pictures and sculptures made use of typical materials from the Mukuru slum alongside a contemporary language of form. Dr. Susanne Völker, Kassel's Head of Cultural Affairs, explains in the jury's statement: "The Wajukuu Art Project, a community-based organization initiated by artists in 2004, offers children and young people in Mukuru – one of the slums of the Kenyan capital Nairobi – the opportunity to participate, develop, and grow as a community by way of artistic offerings in an environment marked by poverty and crime. I am pleased that this year we have been able to award the prestigious prize to the Wajukuu Art Project. The Board of Trustees is following documenta fifteen's guiding principle of highlighting collectives engaged in artistic work for the common good as a specific form of organization and production." The award ceremony will be held in Kassel on May 2, 2023.

Today, Monday 6 February 2023, the shareholders of documenta und Museum Fridericianum gGmbH submitted for publication the Final Report of the Expert Advisory Panel they had commissioned for documenta fifteen. The report is available in German only and can be downloaded here:

Final Report: Expert Advisory Panel for documenta fifteen

The Expert Advisory Panel is composed of Prof. Dr. Nicole Deitelhoff (Chair), Prof. Dr. Marion Ackermann, Prof. Dr. Julia Bernstein, Marina Chernivsky, Prof. Peter Jelavich, PhD, Prof. Dr. Christoph Möllers, and Dr. Cord Schmelzle (Scientific Coordinator).

Cultural manager Prof. Dr. Andreas Hoffmann, currently still Managing Director at the Bucerius Kunst Forum in Hamburg, is to become the new Managing Director of documenta und Museum Fridericianum gGmbH. He will take up his position in Kassel on May 1, 2023. Until then, Dr. Ferdinand von Saint André, hired as interim Managing Director at the close of documenta fifteen, will continue in charge as agreed.

"The decision to appoint the new Managing Director also charts the course for the future of documenta in Kassel," say Kassel's Lord Mayor Christian Geselle, Chairman of the Supervisory Board at documenta gGmbH, and his deputy on the Supervisory Board, Hesse's Minister of Art Angela Dorn. As a cultural institution of global significance, documenta must tackle questions of content and rise to structural challenges, he said. "The Supervisory Board is convinced that in Prof. Dr. Andreas Hoffmann we have found a cultural manager who is as experienced as he is committed," they added. When announcing the new appointment, they also expressed their gratitude for the work of the interim Managing Director, Dr. Ferdinand von Saint André: "His passion and professionalism in handling Kassel's and indeed our nation's precious cultural asset deserves the utmost respect," said Angela Dorn and Christian Geselle, voicing their appreciation for the interim Managing Director.
Commenting on his new role, Prof. Dr. Andreas Hoffmann said: "documenta is one of the world's most important exhibitions of contemporary art. All editions of the world art exhibition have been key seismographs on the central discourses and challenges of our society as reflected in art. Managing documenta und Museum Fridericianum gGmbH is a particularly diverse, exciting and honorable task, which I will approach with great respect, but also with a great deal of commitment and enthusiasm. I very much look forward to the close collegial cooperation with the expert teams at documenta, the Fridericianum, documenta Halle, the documenta Archive, the documenta Institute and the International Friends of documenta."
In the words of Prof. Manuel Hartung, CEO of the foundation ZEIT-Stiftung Ebelin und Gerd Bucerius, the sponsor of the Bucerius Kunst Forum: "documenta is an art exhibition of outstanding importance and reach – for my hometown Kassel, for Germany and for the international art world. I am delighted that Prof. Dr. Andreas Hoffmann is able to take over as documenta's Managing Director in such challenging times. Andreas Hoffmann has shaped the Bucerius Kunst Forum in 15 years of very successful work – and made it a venue of highly acclaimed exhibitions and a forum on art in society. I heartily congratulate him on his leadership role at documenta!"

documenta 16 will be held in Kassel from June 12 to September 19, 2027. Until then, agreement on standards in dealing with artistic freedom and its limits, in addressing any group-specific form of misanthropy such as anti-Semitism, racism and antiziganism, but also the adaptation of organizational and committee structures as well as the definition of the framework conditions under which the artistic direction of documenta 16 will exercise its curatorial responsibility will all play a central role. Commenting on this Prof. Dr. Andreas Hoffmann said: "In addition, further increasing documenta's international appeal and developing innovative forms of art education will be important, as will supporting documenta's individual institutions in their current projects."

Biography of Prof. Dr. Andreas Hoffmann
The cultural manager Andreas Hoffmann, born in Norden in 1971, has been Managing Director at the Bucerius Kunst Forum since January 2007. Until 2019, he was also the programming manager for art and culture for the music and monument projects of the foundation ZEIT-Stiftung Ebelin und Gerd Bucerius. Overseeing the forum's expansion in 2008 and the building of its new exhibition venue opening in 2019, he is responsible, amongst other things, for its interdisciplinary event programs. He is also curator of the antiquities exhibitions "Pompeii. Gods, Myths, Man" (2014) and "New Images in the Age of Augustus. Power and Media in Ancient Rome" (2022/3).
From September 2004 to December 2006, he was Managing Director of the Friends of Hamburg Kunsthalle as well as Managing Director of the German Federation of Friends of Museums of Fine Art (Bundesverband der Fördervereine deutscher Museen bildender Kunst e.V.). As a research assistant from 2001 to 2004, he was responsible for the antiquities collection of the Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe and curator of such exhibitions as "The Etruscans. Luxury for the Afterlife" (2004) or "The Pyramid. House for Eternity" (2002), but also "Gunter Sachs" (2004).
Hoffmann studied Classical Archaeology, Latin Philology, and Ancient History in Hamburg, Berlin, and Heidelberg and trained as a PR consultant while pursuing his career. In 2002, his doctoral thesis "Death in Taranto. Grave Ritual and Society" was published as part of a German-Italian research project on the comprehensive indexing of the necropolis in Taranto (Taranto Project). Since 2011 he has lectured at the Institute for Arts and Media Management at the University of Music and Theater in Hamburg, from 2016 as an honorary professor (pursuant to §17 of the HmbHG – German Higher Education Act). Since 2016, he has also been the spokesperson for the university’s Business and Marketing Faculty.
In addition to his professional activities, Andreas Hoffmann been part of the Supervisory Board of Kunsthalle Emden since 2017 and of the Board of Trustees of the German music foundation Deutsche Stiftung Musikleben since 2019.
Andreas Hoffmann is married to the Classical Archaeologist Annette Haug.

Portraitfoto of Prof. Dr. Andreas Hoffmann for download.
Credits: Prof. Dr. Andreas Hoffmann, photo: Götz Wrage.

Press release for download

documenta press contact
Johanna Köhler
Head of Communications and Marketing
documenta und Museum Fridericianum gGmbH
T +49 561 70727-2520
presse@documenta.de

Neun künstlerische Positionen der documenta fifteen wurden für die städtischen und staatlichen Kunstsammlungen in der Neuen Galerie und Graphischen Sammlung angekauft. Der Magistrat der Stadt Kassel hat auf Vorschlag der Ankaufskommission entschieden, welche Kunstwerke erworben werden. Die Vertragsverhandlungen über den Ankauf wurden nun abgeschlossen.

Für die städtischen und staatlichen Kunstsammlungen in der Neuen Galerie und Graphischen Sammlung wurden folgende Kunstwerke erworben:

1. Amol K Patil Black Masks on Roller Skates
2. Britto Arts Project Rasad - Food Objects
3. Marwa Arsanios Who is Afraid of Ideology? Part 4 Reverse Shot (Video)
4. Sebastián Diaz Morales Smashing Monuments *(Video)
5. Jatiwangi art Factory Perhutana Family Forest Terracotta*
6. Wajukuu Art Project Kahiu kogi gatemaga mwene
7. Atelier Goldstein Raumpräsentation (mit 12 Arbeiten inkl. Zusatzwerk)
8. Pınar Öğrenci Aşît *(Video)
9. Richard Bell *Gallery Hand Outs

Der Ankauf der ersten sechs Werke wurde dabei aus dem städtischen Etat mit rund 290.000 Euro finanziert, während die anderen drei Objekte durch die Museumslandschaft Hessen Kassel (MHK), also das Land Hessen, für rund 130.000 Euro erworben wurden. Das Land Hessen und die Stadt Kassel kaufen in bewährter Weise in enger Abstimmung gemeinsam Kunstwerke der documenta für die Sammlungen an.

Über den Erwerb der Kunstwerke hatte zunächst die Ankaufskommission unter dem Vorsitz von Kulturdezernentin Dr. Susanne Völker beraten. Die Vorschläge hatte Dr. Dorothee Gerkens, Sammlungsleiterin der Neuen Galerie, gemacht. Der Kommission gehören die kulturpolitischen Vertreter der Fraktionen sowie die Vorsitzenden des Kunstvereins, der Kasseler Ortsgruppe des Bundesverbandes Bildender Künstler und des Museumsvereins an. Vertreten sind auch die Museumslandschaft Hessen Kassel und das Fridericianum.

„Die ausgewählten Werke sind von hoher inhaltlicher und künstlerischer Relevanz für die Kunst und die Arbeitsweise der documenta fifteen. So bilden sie künftig in der städtischen Sammlung das Konzept des Kollektivs ruangrupa ebenso ab, wie die Vielfalt der oft gemeinwohlorientierten künstlerischen Ansätze der d15“, betonte Kulturdezernentin Dr. Susanne Völker.
„Die Arbeiten lassen sich gut in die bisherigen Sammlungen integrieren, korrespondieren mit schon vorhandenen Arbeiten und erweitern so den Bestand auf bereichernde Weise“, ergänzte Dr. Dorothee Gerkens von der MHK, die dort die städtische Kunstsammlung kuratiert.

Die Kunstwerke wurden zum größten Teil über die Lumbung Gallery erworben, einem eigens anlässlich der Weltkunstschau gegründeten Verein, der in Form einer Kooperative die Vermarktung der Kunstwerke übernommen hat. Damit soll Künstlerinnen und Künstlern eine faire Entlohnung zuteilwerden, wobei sie 70 Prozent des Verkaufspreises erhalten. Die übrigen 30 Prozent fließen in einen „Common Pot“, über den gemeinschaftlich entschieden wird und der auch die Finanzierung der Strukturen der Lumbung Gallery ermöglicht.

Hintergrund
Amol K Patil „Black Masks on Roller Skates“
Von dem indischen Konzept- und Performancekünstler wurde eine Auswahl von 13 Skulpturen, 13 Gemälden sowie ein Film erworben. Seine Arbeiten wurden im Bereich des Hübner-Areals gezeigt. Amol K Patil beschäftigt sich mit dem Kastensystem und den familiären Bindungen. Seine Kritik gilt dem auf Unterdrückung und Diskriminierung aufbauenden Kastensystem und er verfolgt in seinen Arbeiten insbesondere die Sichtbarmachung der Arbeiterklasse. So greift er in der Installation die Situation der Arbeitsmigranten in Mumbai auf. Deren moderne Wohnanlagen, die Chawls, wurden von den Migranten in dynamische Orte des Protests, des Theaters und der Musik verwandelt. Im Video bewegt sich ein Straßenreiniger auf Rollschuhen durch die Chawls. Die Musik hörend, blendet er die Außenwelt aus, eine Welt, die ihn als Reiniger braucht, aber als Mensch ausschließt.

Britto Arts Project „Rasad - Food Objects“
Das Britto Arts Project wurde in 2002 als gemeinnütziges Zentrum für zeitgenössische Kunst in Dhaka, Bangladesch gegründet. Erworben wurden 218 Einzelobjekte sowie ein im Maßstab verkleinerter Nachbau des „Marktstandes“, der in der documenta Halle ausgestellt war.
Kritisiert werden die Kommerzialisierung und Normierung von Lebensmitteln sowie die globalen Marktmechanismen. Einige Objekte enthalten Statements über die Nahrungsmittelpolitik, die von den Agrargiganten aus den Industrienationen bestimmt wird. Beispiele sind: Fische, die sich in Pistolen verwandeln oder ein Blumenkohl, der zum Atompilz wird.

Marwa Arsanios „Who is Afraid of Ideology? Part4 Reverse Shot“ Die Künstlerin, Filmemacherin und Forscherin Marwa Arsanios lebt und arbeitet v. a. in Beirut, Libanon. Der Film handelt von der Verteilung von Landrechten, insbesondere von der Vergemeinschaftung eines privaten Steinbruchs in den Bergen Libanons mithilfe einer landwirtschaftlichen Genossenschaft.
Zudem beschäftigt sich Marwa Arsanios mit den Fragen nach Erbe, Besitz, Eigentum und Wert. Der vielschichtige Film reflektiert, inwiefern sich Land als lebendiges Objekt von Natur aus dem Eigentum widersetzt und wirft posthumanistische und ökologiephilosophische Fragen zu der Verflechtung des Geologischen, Historischen und Rechtlichen auf.

Sebastián Diaz Morales „Smashing Monuments“
Der Künstler und Filmemacher Sebastián Diaz Morales, geb. in Argentinien, lebt und arbeitet in Amsterdam. In seinem Film treten 5 Kuratorinnen und Kuratoren von ruangrupa (Indra Kusumaaka Ameng, Ade Darmawan, Gesyada Siregar, Farid Rakun & Naga Mirwan Andan) in Dialog über zentrale lumbung-Werte mit Monumenten in Jakarta. Insbesondere sind das:
• endurance (Beständigkeit)
• friendship (Freundschaft)
• generosity (Großzügigkeit)
• independence (Unabhängigkeit) und
• not goodbye (kein Abschied)
Der Film ist künstlerisch eigenständig und für die Sammlung auch als Zeugnis zentraler Haltungen der documenta fifteen wichtig. **
Jatiwangi art Factory Perhutana Family Forest Terracotta**
Jatiwangi art Factory ist ein 2005 gegründetes Kollektiv aus Indonesien. In Jatiwangi, Indonesien, soll auf acht Hektar Wald ein Naturschutzgebiet entstehen, für das jede/jeder Landanteile in einer Mindestgröße von 4 mal 4 Meter erwerben kann. Ziel ist es, den fortschreitenden Flächenverkauf - und somit das Abholzen alter Wälder - an Fabriken von Firmen wie Adidas, Puma oder H&M zu stoppen. Stattdessen soll ein kollektiver Naturwald aufgeforstet werden. Das Projekt Kota Terakota markiert so einen Neuanfang für Jatiwangi. Die Stadt wird nach den Wünschen und gemeinschaftlichen Vereinbarungen ihrer Bewohnerinnen und Bewohner umgestaltet.
Zu Beginn des zwanzigsten Jahrhunderts entstand in Jatiwangi durch den Abbau von Ton die größte Ziegelindustrie Südostasiens. Hundert Jahre später, im Jahr 2005, ermutigte Jatiwangi art Factory – denselben Ton nutzend – die Bürgerinnen und Bürger aus Jatiwangi, durch Kunst und kulturelle Aktivitäten ein kollektives Bewusstsein und eine gemeinsame Identität für ihre Region auszubilden. Wer sich am Landkauf beteiligt, bekommt ein Zertifikat: einen gebrannten Ziegelstein mit der Aufschrift „Perhutana Family Forest Certificate“. Erworben wurden 25 Lizenzen.

Wajukuu Art Project „Kahiu kogi gatemaga mwene“ (2022) von Ngugi Waweru
Wajukuu Art Project ist ein Kollektiv aus Kenia. Das Wajukuu Art Projekt wurde 2004 von einer Gruppe von Künstlerinnen und Künstlern mit dem Ziel gegründet, die Slums von Mukuru zu einem Ort zu machen, an dem sich Kinder mithilfe von künstlerischen und kreativen Praktiken entfalten können. Weiter sollen durch die Produktion und den Verkauf von Kunstwerken Arbeitsplätze geschaffen werden.
In dem Art Project kann nicht nur künstlerisch gearbeitet werden, es gibt dort auch Unterricht für die Kinder und einen Gemüsegarten. Aktuell werden dort etwa 100 Kinder betreut. Das Kollektiv beschäftigt sich auch mit den Wunden des kolonialen Erbes. Sie möchten mit ihrer Kunst den Blick auf Afrika verändern und eine Anbindung an ihre Traditionen bewirken.
Die Arbeit „Kahiu kogi gatemaga mwene“ („Wenn ein Messer zu scharf ist, verletzt es den Besitzer“) ist eine Installation aus Küchenmessern. „Wer sie immer nachschleift, bewirkt, dass sie scharf sind, aber sie brechen schnell“, erklärt der Künstler Waweru. So seien sie auch ein Symbol für Menschen in der Leistungs- und Konsumgesellschaft. Wajukuu Art Project wurde mit dem Arnold-Bode-Preis 2022 ausgezeichnet.

Atelier Goldstein Raumpräsentation mit insgesamt 12 Arbeiten Das Atelier Goldstein, eingeladen von Project Art Works, vertritt neurodiverse Künstlerinnen und Künstler und gehört zum Lebenshilfe Frankfurt am Main e. V. Erworben wurde die gesamte Raumpräsentation mit insgesamt 12 Arbeiten von vier Künstlern, so wie sie im Hübner-Areal ausgestellt war.

Die Künstler im Einzelnen sind:
Franz von Saalfeld (1961 geboren in Ingelheim am Rhein, wo er auch heute lebt und arbeitet): 2 Aquarelle - Tusche und Wasserfarbe auf Papier: 1988 und 2003 Franz von Saalfeld malt bevorzugt Kleinstadtidyllen der 1950/60er Jahre. Mit Aquarellen, Texten und Bühnenbildmodellen spürt er der ungemütlichen Ruhe der Kleinstadt und seiner eigenen, eng verwobenen Biografie nach.
Hans Jörg Georgi (1949 in Frankfurt geboren): 3 Flugzeugmodelle

Seit Jahrzehnten schafft Hans-Jörg Georgi Flugzeuge aus Pappresten. Entdeckt vom Atelier Goldstein, nahm Hans-Jörg Georgi in den vergangenen Jahren mit seinen Flugobjekten an zahlreichen internationalen Ausstellungen teil. Sie lassen sich teils als fliegende Städte lesen, die das Überleben der Menschheit sichern. Zu den drei Flugobjekten hat der Künstler jeweils eine Zeichnung als Schenkung angefertigt.

Julius Bockelt (1986 geboren in Frankfurt am Main, lebt und arbeitet in Frankfurt am Main): mehrere Tuschezeichnungen Julius Bockelt arbeitet seit 2004 im Atelier Goldstein und verfolgt ein klares künstlerisches Konzept, in dessen Mittelpunkt die Grenzen der Wahrnehmung und metaphysische Themen stehen. Sein eigenständiges zeichnerisches und fotografisches Werk beruht auf visuellen und auditiven Phänomenen.

Juewen Zhang (1995 geboren in Berlin, lebt und arbeitet in Langen und Frankfurt am Main): Zwei Kohlezeichnungen Juewen Zhang ist der erste Studierende einer Kunsthochschule in Deutschland, der sich offen mit der Diagnose einer kognitiven Beeinträchtigung beworben hat. Seit 2019 studiert er freie Kunst an der Hochschule für Gestaltung in Offenbach. Sein Fokus liegt, so auch in seiner Scheitelserie, auf minutiös gezeichneten Detailaufnahmen, die einen ganz anderen Blick auf die Figur richten.

Pınar Öğrenci „Aşît“
Die Künstlerin und Filmemacherin Pınar Öğrenci, geboren in der Türkei, lebt und arbeitet in Berlin. Der Film behandelt die traumatische Geschichte Ostanatoliens und thematisiert rückblickend die Überlebensstrategien von Armenierinnen und Armeniern sowie Kurdinnen und Kurden auf dem Gebiet der heutigen Osttürkei. Er stellt zudem eine Referenz an Stefans Zweigs „Schachnovelle“ dar.

Richard Bell „Gallery Hand Outs” Der Künstler und Aborigine-Aktivist Richard Bell lebt und arbeitet in Brisbane, Australien. Das Gemälde „Gallery Hand Outs“ thematisiert die Komplizenschaft des westlichen Kunstsystems und des kolonialen Kapitalismus bei der Vereinnahmung von Kunst in ihre Systeme. Einer Generation von Aborigine-Aktivistinnen und -Aktivisten entstammend, setzt sich Richard Bell konsequent für eine Politik der Selbstbestimmung der Aborigines ein. Richard Bell war auf der documenta zudem zentral vor dem Fridericianum mit der „Aboriginal Embassy“ vertreten.

Stadt Kassel www.kassel.de

Pressesprecher: Victor Deutsch, Simone Scharnke, Michael Schwab, Sascha Stiebing

presse@kassel.de
Telefon 0561 787 1231
Rathaus, 34112 Kassel

Die Stadt Kassel, die documenta und Museum Fridericianum gGmbH sowie die Künstlerin Graziela Kunsch starten einen Spendenaufruf, der den Ankauf des documenta fifteen-Kunstwerks „Eltern und Kleinkinder Krippe / Public Daycare“ für die Stadt Kassel ermöglichen soll. Bürgerinnen und Bürger sind eingeladen, sich mit ihren Spenden am Erhalt des Kunstwerks in Kassel zu beteiligen.

Bereits während der Ausstellungslaufzeit der documenta fifteen formierte sich ein engagierter Unterstützerkreis, der sich für den langfristigen Verbleib des Kunstwerks „Public Daycare“ in Kassel einsetzte und von zahlreichen Stimmen aus der Bevölkerung und Öffentlichkeit bestärkt wurde. Die Stadt Kassel nimmt sich nun dem öffentlichen Interesse um das Kunstwerk an und startet gemeinsam mit der documenta und der Künstlerin eine Spendenaktion, um die Arbeit als dauerhaftes Kunstwerk in Kassel zu etablieren – wie dies bereits für verschiedene Außenkunstwerke vergangener documenta Ausstellungen gelungen ist.

Ziel ist es, das Kunstwerk – bestehend aus der vollständigen Einrichtung und Ausstattung, der Bibliothek des Spiels (Library of Playful Objects), der Fotoausstellung und Videoarbeit – über die lumbung Gallery für den Gesamtpreis von 178.500 Euro zu erwerben. In Kooperation mit den Initiatorinnen der „Public Daycare“ wurden Räumlichkeiten in der Innenstadt gesucht und bis auf Weiteres in der Kasseler Markthalle gefunden. Dort stehen geeignete Flächen und Infrastruktur zur Verfügung, um die Neueröffnung der Einrichtung zeitnah zu ermöglichen. Die „Eltern und Kleinkinder Krippe“ wird dann wie während der documenta fifteen als kostenfreies Angebot für alle Kinder von 0 bis 3 Jahren und ihre Begleitpersonen nutzbar sein. Für den Betrieb selbst zeichnet sich die Elterninitiative verantwortlich, die sich zu diesem Zweck in Gründung eines Trägervereins befindet. Die Stadt wird darüber hinaus eine Anschubfinanzierung des Betriebs von 15.000 Euro jährlich zur Verfügung stellen.

Sollte das Spendenziel binnen der drei Monate laufenden Kampagne nicht erreicht werden und die Künstlerin mit der lumbung Gallery der erreichten Summe als Kaufpreis nicht zustimmen, erhalten die Spenderinnen und Spender ihr Geld zurück.

Beliebter Ausstellungsbeitrag für Kinder und Familien
Während der documenta fifteen bot die Künstlerin Graziela Kunsch mit dem Kunstwerk „Eltern und Kleinkinder Krippe“ im Erdgeschoss des Fridericianums einen Raum zum voneinander Lernen für Babys und Kinder bis 3 Jahre und ihre Begleitpersonen. Der vom pädagogischen Ansatz Emmi Piklers getragene Ausstellungsbeitrag erfreute sich großer Beliebtheit. Begleitet von einer Fotoausstellung, Videoarbeit und der Bibliothek des Spiels erzählte Graziela Kunsch von den Erkenntnissen Emmi Piklers zur freien Bewegungsentwicklung und dem achtsamen Umgang mit Kleinkindern, die damit ein respektvolles Miteinander von Anfang an erfahren können. Durch den mit der Kasselerin Elke Avenarius besonders gestalteten Krippenbereich wurde dies für Besucherinnen und Besucher erfahrbar. Die documenta fifteen sprach damit erstmals auch jüngste Gäste und ihre Familien mit einem konkreten künstlerischen Angebot direkt an.

Stimmen der Initiatorinnen und Initiatoren
Johannes Bleck von der Elterninitiative erläutert das Engagement: „Eltern, Großeltern, Tagespflege-Personen und viele Interessierte haben die „Eltern und Kleinkinder Krippe“ während der documenta fifteen so sehr ins Herz geschlossen, dass wir uns nicht vorstellen können, auf diesen wertvollen Raum zu verzichten. Daher haben sich ca. 30 Eltern aus Kassel zusammengefunden, die sich für den Erhalt einsetzen und für den Betrieb engagieren. Wir glauben an das Potenzial des Kunstwerks, als Kulturraum, als Kooperationsfläche und Vernetzungsort. Wir sehen es als eine Besonderheit, die als Leuchtturmprojekt vermag belebte Kunst neu zu denken, documenta Kunst ins öffentliche Leben zu integrieren, die Kasseler Innenstadt zu bereichern und internationale Brückenschläge lebendig und sichtbar zu machen.“

Die Künstlerin Graziela Kunsch begrüßt das Vorhaben auch mit Blick auf die Weiterentwicklung ihres Projekts: „Ich freue mich sehr, dass unser Beitrag in Kassel einen solchen Zuspruch erfährt und Freundinnen und Freunde gefunden hat, die sich für den Erhalt engagieren. Teile der Spendenerlöse möchte ich dafür aufwenden, nochmal nach Deutschland zu kommen, um gemeinsam mit Elke Avenarius den Entwurf auf die neuen Räumlichkeiten anzupassen, die Library of Playful Objects auszubauen und eine Public Parental Daycare auch in meinem Heimatort São Paulo im Casa do Povo aufzubauen.“

Kulturdezernentin Dr. Susanne Völker wirbt für die Spendenaktion und betont die Bedeutung des Werks für Kassel: „Es ist bereits gute Tradition, dass neben den durch die Ankaufskommission für die Sammlung der Neuen Galerie erworbenen Werken, einzelne besondere Kunstwerke der documenta Ausstellungen durch bürgerschaftliches Engagement für Kassel gewonnen werden können. Aufgrund des großen öffentlichen Interesses handelt es sich bei der documenta fifteen dabei nun erstmalig nicht um ein Außenkunstwerk, sondern um einen speziell auf kleine Kinder und ihre Begleitungen ausgerichteten Raum, der einen wertvollen Begegnungs- und Lernort schafft. Diesen möchten wir mit Unterstützung der Bevölkerung für Kassel sichern, denn mit diesem Konzept verkörpert die Arbeit auch treffend die künstlerische Praxis ruangrupas und den lebendigen und teilhabeorientierten Begriff von Kunst, der die documenta fifteen prägte.“

Kassels Jugenddezernentin Nicole Maisch bedankt sich bei allen, die sich für das Projekt einsetzen: „Ich freue mich sehr, dass mit der „Public Daycare“ ein nichtkommerzieller und jahreszeitenunabhängiger Ort geschaffen wird, an dem sich Mütter und Väter mit ihren Kleinkindern spontan treffen und Elemente der kindgerechten und entwicklungsfördernden Pikler-Pädagogik ausprobieren können. Die Markthalle mit ihrer zentralen Lage in der Innenstadt ist ein toller Standort für das Kunstwerk. Ich danke der Elterninitiative, der Künstlerin Graziela Kunsch und ihrer lokalen Kooperationspartnerin Elke Avenarius und der Kasseler Markthalle sehr für die gute Zusammenarbeit, die Kassel um ein ganz besonderes Angebot bereichern wird.“

Eingerichtetes Spendenkonto
Spenden können auf das folgende Konto überwiesen werden: Kassel documenta Stadt
IBAN: DE16 5205 0353 0000 0110 99
BIC: HELADEF1KAS
Spendenzweck: Ankauf des Kunstwerks „Eltern und Kleinkinder Krippe“

Da im Fall des Nichtankaufs eine Rücküberweisung des gespendeten Betrags erfolgt, sind folgende Angaben notwendig: Spendenzweck: Ankauf des Kunstwerks „Eltern und Kleinkinder Krippe“ sowie Name des Spenders/der Spenderin beziehungsweise der Firma und die Anschrift.
Bei Beträgen über 300 Euro kann nach Erreichen des Spendenziels eine Spendenbescheinigung ausgestellt werden, darunter reicht ein vereinfachter Nachweis gegenüber dem Finanzamt, wie beispielsweise ein Kontoauszug. Über das „Spendenportal“ auf der städtischen Internetseite www.kassel.de/spende-public- daycare bietet die Stadtverwaltung auch einen entsprechenden Online-Zugang an.

Über die Stadt Kassel
Kassel ist mit etwa 205.000 Einwohnerinnen und Einwohnern die größte Stadt in der Mitte Deutschlands. Rund 111.000 sozialversicherungspflichtige Beschäftigte sind am Wirtschaftsstandort tätig. Gut 25.000 Menschen studieren an der Universität.
Kassel ist die Stadt der documenta, der weltweit bedeutendsten Ausstellung zeitgenössischer Kunst, der Brüder Grimm und des UNESCO-Welterbes Bergpark Wilhelmshöhe mit dem Herkules, dem weithin sichtbaren Wahrzeichen der Stadt. Rund 3.500 Menschen sind direkt bei der Stadtverwaltung beschäftigt. Zudem ist die Stadt an weiteren großen Unternehmen beteiligt, darunter die Gesundheit Nordhessen Holding sowie die Kasseler Verkehrs- und Versorgungs-GmbH mit dem Verkehrsunternehmen KVG und dem Energieversorger Städtische Werke AG.

Stadt Kassel http://www.kassel.de
Pressestelle presse@kassel.de
Telefon 0561 787 1231
Rathaus, 34112 Kassel

Every year, art magazines take a look at the international art world and compile a top 100 of its most influential personalities.

International art magazine Art Review ranked the artists' collective ruangrupa No. 1 on ArtReview's Power 100 list for 2022.

Art magazine Monopol also highlighted the influence of ruangrupa placing the collective in second position in its Top 100 for 2022. This ranking also recognized the staging by collective Atis Rezistans stating that "Anyone who attended documenta in Kassel will probably never forget the installation […] in a deconsecrated Catholic church." At documenta fifteen Henrike Naumann collaborated with Ghetto Biennale I Atis Rezistans and was ranked 63rd by Monopols Top 100. The work by The Nest Collective on show at documenta fifteen in the central Karlsaue dealing critically with the used clothing industry also garnered recognition from Monopol landing in 86th place in its ranking.

After documenta is before documenta: While the financial close of documenta fifteen is still being finalized, preparations are underway for the next documenta (June 12 to September 19, 2027): In the spirit of a transparent process that builds on the knowledge gained from valuable experience, the documenta 16 search committee will be made up of former Artistic Directions of documenta exhibitions. For this purpose, Dr. Ferdinand von Saint André invites to a process starting at short notice. Rudi Fuchs (documenta 7, 1982), Catherine David (documenta X, 1997), Roger M. Buergel (documenta 12, 2007), Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev (documenta 13, 2012) and Adam Szymczyk (documenta 14, 2017) are expected to attend a kick-off meeting in Kassel before the end of December 2022. The goal is to set up the documenta 16 search committee in spring 2023 so that it can name an Artistic Direction for documenta 16 by spring 2024.

The Jane Lombard Prize for Art and Social Justice was created in 2012 to mark the 20th anniversary of the Vera List Center. Every two years, the prize recognizes relevant artistic projects for their long-term impact, courage, and artistic quality.

This year, the prize was awarded to proppaNOW for Occurrent Affair. Conceived as a collaborative activist gesture, the project addresses current socio-political, economic, and environmental issues while celebrating the strength, resilience, and continuity of Aborigine culture. Co-founder of the artist group is Richard Bell, who took part in documenta fifteen with his works Tent Embassy and Pay the Rent.

The Jane Lombard Prize has already been awarded to a wide range of documenta artists: In its inaugural year, it went to Theaster Gates (documenta 13) for Dorchester Projects; in 2014, Abounaddara (documenta 14) was honored for Emergency Cinema. The films documented contemporary life in Syria. Brazilian artist Maria Thereza Alves (documenta 13) was honored in 2016 for her project Seeds of Change.

In accordance with ruangrupa's artistic practice and the lumbung idea, the theme of sustainability was considered holistically at documenta fifteen. It was taken into account in all areas of planning and implementation of the exhibition. Now, sustainable action also has a special place in the dismantling of the exhibition. Practical strategies are to be tested to ensure that the resources of a temporary exhibition are fed into existing cycles wherever possible. For this purpose, exhibition materials have already been given to non-profit organizations, e.g. the ramp of the Hafenstraße 76 went to the nursery Fuldaaue to serve the construction of a new barn, parts of the ruruKinds facility shall form the starting point of a new initiative in Witzenhausen and Richard Bell's tent went to the FSC Dynamo Windrad e.V.

Materials that have not yet been donated for further use are now to be offered for sale to the people of Kassel at a reasonable price.

Sale of documenta fifteen facilities and technical equipment

documenta hall Saturday 29 October to Sunday 30 October 2022 Saturday 10 am–6 pm, Sunday 1 pm­–6 pm

Dr. Ferdinand von Saint André has been appointed interim managing director of documenta und Museum Fridericianum gGmbH as of October 1, 2022. This has now been announced by documenta Supervisory Board Chairman and Lord Mayor of Kassel Christian Geselle. Prior to the decision, the City of Kassel and the State of Hesse, as shareholders of documenta gGmbH, had reached an agreement on the appointment of the new interim managing director. Geselle subsequently informed the members of the Supervisory Board of the decision.

“When one documenta ends another begins. Dr. von Saint André is now to manage the company as interim managing director. With a view to documenta 16, a long-term appointment will of course be made,” explained Lord Mayor Geselle.

Dr. Ferdinand von Saint André is 50 years of age, married and a father of three children. He holds a doctorate in law and most recently spent around six years as managing director at the Stiftung Gebäudeensemble Joachimsthalsches Gymnasium Templin—a large, European school project. As legal counsel and head of the contracts department, he also worked at the Federal Cultural Foundation from 2006 to 2014. He is therefore no stranger to “modern cultural administration”: “I am grateful for the trust placed in me by the shareholders and the Supervisory Board at documenta gGmbH. I very much look forward to my time in Kassel and the challenging task ahead. documenta is something particularly close to my heart.”

Portraitphoto of Dr. Ferdinand von Saint André for Download

credits: documenta und Museum Fridericianum gGmbH, Dr. Ferdinand von Saint André, Photo: Nicolas Wefers, 2022.

Yesterday, Sunday, September 25, 2022, the dates for documenta 16 were announced in line with tradition by Christian Geselle, Chairman of the Supervisory Board and Lord Mayor of the City of Kassel. documenta 16 will run from June 12 to September 19, 2027.

A total of over 738,000 visitors—sustainability and accessibility as central concerns

After 100 exhibition days, a third Meydan weekend, and several activations by the artists, documenta fifteen came to a successful close yesterday (Sunday). At 738,000 the number of visitors exceeded organizers' expectations. In line with current developments in the tourism and events industry, the number of group bookings marginally fell short of original expectations, but a slight increase in the number of season ticket holders was posted.

On exhibition space totaling more than 25,000 square meters, over 1,500 artists at 32 exhibition venues invited visitors to immerse themselves in lumbung practice. Events and activations were an integral part of documenta fifteen. Thus, over 1,700 events by the participating artists and their invited actors took place during the runtime. The opening weekend along with the packed Meydan program, concentrated over three weekends, was attended by a total of some 38,000 people.

Following the lumbung practice, two urgent current topics loomed large in the way documenta fifteen sees itself: Sustainability was taken seriously with regard to socio-economic and ecological concerns: Through the so-called “sustainability euro,” which was included in the ticket, 375,000 euros in donations were generated for the reforestation of the Reinhardswald forest near to the City of Kassel and for ecological enrichment on Sumatra in Indonesia. Recycled materials dominated the infrastructure and exhibition design. Merchandise and print products focused on sustainable and regional products. For the first time, the ticket included travel on public transport. In the ongoing process, standards of responsible use of resources were consistently considered.

Accessibility was another central concern. Based on lumbung values such as generosity and solidarity, documenta fifteen offered the so-called Soli-Ticket, which was intended to give as many people as possible access to the exhibition: By purchasing it at the regular ticket price, visitors gave another person free access to the exhibition. This ticket format, designed to increase accessibility, was well received; the Soli-Ticket was purchased a total of over 3,500 times and redeemed just as often. Accessibility has been seriously pursued by documenta fifteen as a continuous optimization process. Additional barriers were reduced and standards set via the website, Walks & Stories, and the exhibition accompanying booklet in easy language.

For the Artistic Direction, ruangrupa, the documenta fifteen exhibition in Kassel is a stage on their lumbung journey: “In the spirit of a sustainable process of learning from and with each other, we asked all the invited actors of documenta fifteen to continue their local practice and find a translation of it to Kassel. The results of this process formed the documenta fifteen exhibition. lumbung #1—as we also call the exhibition internally—is now closed, but the lumbung practice will live on after the 100 exhibition days. With independent self-organized platforms such as the lumbung.space website, the lumbung Gallery and lumbung Kios, we have created structures that will continue to be at the disposal of the lumbung network. We would like to take the opportunity to thank all those involved: the artists and collectives, the Kassel Ekosistem, the team of documenta fifteen and documenta gGmbH as well as the sobat-sobat and guards and all the others who have supported the project documenta fifteen with their heart and soul.”

Managing Director Alexander Farenholtz sees the number of visitors as a success: “In view of the antisemitism debate that accompanied it, this documenta did not have an easy time placing its actual artistic concerns. I wish that when we look back at the exhibition we could also see it through the eyes of the many visitors: namely, as an artistic endeavor that addresses key issues of our time. To my mind, reaching visitor numbers only about 17 percent below those of documenta 14 in 2017 should be considered a success given the event was planned and executed under pandemic conditions with the associated drop in long-distance and group travel.”

Digitally, documenta fifteen was also highly attended. The website was visited by a total of almost 700,000 unique visitors from 115 countries. The social media channel with the widest reach, Instagram, reached around 65,000 followers, and the Newsletter at its last count recorded around 29,500 subscribers.

Those wishing to immerse themselves once again in impressions of the lumbung process in the exhibition retrospective can continue to follow a good 30 specially produced videos on central themes of documenta fifteen and artistic contributions, as well as the archived livestream events, in the documenta fifteen media library.

Further figures in detail and demographic data

Over 15,150 season tickets (d 14 = 14,500) were sold. A total of around 5,250 Walks & Stories were offered, attended by around 78,700 participants. 33,000 schoolchildren in group tours visited documenta fifteen and around 4,600 representatives of the press were accredited.

Around one-third (31.7 percent) of the public came from abroad and representing 86 countries around the world. Over 40 percent of visitors were aged between 15 and 40. The age group between 20 and 40 was most strongly represented.
According to initial survey results, the majority of visitors rated their visit to documenta fifteen as good to very good. Thus, 57.4 percent of respondents gave documenta fifteen an overall rating of 1 or 2 (on a scale of 1 – very good to 5 – very poor). A further 30.1 percent gave it a 3. The representative visitor survey, which is expected in October, will provide information on further demographic data and visitor satisfaction.

The days posting the most visitors continued to be Saturday, followed by Friday, Tuesday, and Sunday; the most popular exhibition venues were the Fridericianum and documenta Halle, followed by Hallenbad Ost, Hübner-Areal, Grimmwelt, and St. Kunigundis Church.

The publications developed together with Hatje Cantz, including the 320-page Handbook and the family guide Walking, finding, sharing, will remain available as e-books in the future, even after physical copies have sold out.


Yesterday, Sunday, September 25, 2022, the dates for documenta 16 were announced in line with tradition by Christian Geselle, Chairman of the Supervisory Board and Lord Mayor of the City of Kassel. documenta 16 will run from June 12 to September 19, 2027.

Der Aufsichtsrat und die Gesellschafter der documenta und Museum Fridericianum gGmbH, das Land Hessen und die Stadt Kassel, danken der Fachwissenschaftlichen Begleitung, die die Gesellschafter der documenta zur Aufarbeitung antisemitischer Vorkommnisse auf der documenta fifteen eingesetzt haben, für ihre erste Analyse und die bis hierhin geleistete Arbeit. Die Gesellschafter schließen sich dem Votum der Wissenschaftlerinnen und Wissenschaftler an, wonach die Tokyo Reels des Kollektivs Subversive Films nicht mehr gezeigt werden sollen, mindestens bis eine angemessene Kontextualisierung vorgenommen wurde. Die aktuelle Kommentierung der Filme ist dazu nicht geeignet, da sie die teils antisemitischen und terroristische Gewalt verherrlichenden Propagandafilme gerade nicht historisch einordnet.

Die Freiheit der Kunst ist ein hohes Gut und die exklusive künstlerische Verantwortung der documenta fifteen liegt bei ruangrupa. Die Kuratorinnen und Kuratoren weigern sich jedoch, die damit verbundene Verantwortung wahrzunehmen oder in eine selbstkritische Reflexion der Ereignisse zu gehen. Sie werfen im Gegenteil dem wissenschaftlich breit aufgestellten und renommierten Fachwissenschaftlichen Gremium mit seiner interdisziplinären Expertise Rassismus und Unwissenschaftlichkeit vor. Diese Vorwürfe weisen wir auf das Schärfste zurück.

Wir bedauern und kritisieren, dass die Künstlerische Leitung entgegen der Beratung durch die Fachwissenschaftliche Begleitung und dringliche Empfehlung durch die Gesellschafter auf die Fortsetzung der Vorführung der Tokyo Reels des Kollektivs Subversive Films besteht, ohne dass eine kritische Einordnung der antisemitischen und gewaltverherrlichenden Inhalte erfolgt. Der Aufsichtsrat und die Gesellschafter betrachten es als notwendig, dass den Besucherinnen und Besuchern der documenta eine solche Einordnung zur Verfügung gestellt wird. Wir bitten deshalb die Künstlerische Leitung, die einhellige Einschätzung der Fachwissenschaftlichen Begleitung in der Ausstellung ergänzend zur eigenen Kontextualisierung sichtbar zu machen. Alternativ behalten sich die Gesellschafter vor, diese Informationen außerhalb der Ausstellungsräume im Öffentlichen Raum am Zugang zu den Vorführungsorten für die Besucherinnen und Besucher zur Verfügung zu stellen.

The Finding Committee for the Artistic Direction of documenta fifteen expresses its support for the recent statement of ruangrupa, lumbung members, and contributing artists. The pressures that media and politicians have placed on the entire documenta team have become unbearable. We want to defend their extraordinary hard work and commitment with this statement.

We reject both the poison of antisemitism and its current instrumentalization, which is being done to deflect criticism of the 21st century Israeli state and its occupation of Palestinian territory. At the same time, we embrace documenta fifteen’s pluralism and the possibility to hear such a rich diversity of artistic voices from across the world for the first time. We defend the right of artists and their work to rethink, expose, and criticize political formulas and fixed patterns of thought. We believe this right is something to be cherished by those in public life who make exhibitions like documenta possible.

We continue to stand behind our selection of ruangrupa as the Artistic Direction for documenta fifteen, as we have throughout the entire process of its development and realization. We celebrate the hundreds of thousands of visitors who have seen, visited, and been enriched by the exhibition. We believe their voice should also be heard. We applaud the artists who have been resilient in the face of attacks on their integrity and have remained true to the principles of lumbung. We ask the supervisory board to ensure that documenta fifteen can remain open in its entirety until the planned end of the exhibition. We believe any failure to do so, and a capitulation to political interference, will be judged very harshly by history.

Signed, the Finding Committee:

Amar Kanwar, Charles Esche, Elvira Dyangani Ose, Frances Morris, Gabi Ngcobo, Jochen Volz, Philippe Pirotte, Ute Meta Bauer

Die Gesellschafter der documenta und Museum Fridericianum gGmbH, das Land Hessen und die Stadt Kassel, danken der Fachwissenschaftlichen Begleitung, die die Gesellschafter der documenta zur Aufarbeitung antisemitischer Vorkommnisse auf der documenta fifteen eingesetzt haben, für ihre erste Analyse und die bis hierhin geleistete Arbeit.

Die Gesellschafter schließen sich dem Votum der Wissenschaftlerinnen und Wissenschaftler an, wonach die Tokyo Reels des Kollektivs Subversive Film nicht mehr gezeigt werden sollen, mindestens bis eine angemessene Kontextualisierung vorgenommen wurde. Die aktuelle Kommentierung der Filme ist dazu nicht geeignet, da sie die teils antisemitischen und terroristische Gewalt verherrlichenden Propagandafilme gerade nicht historisch einordnet.

We have been appointed by the shareholders of documenta gGmbH as a scientific advisory panel to analyze those works that have been identified or discussed as anti-Semitic, examine how documenta fifteen has dealt with incidents of anti-Semitism, and develop proposals on how to prevent similar occurrences in future. Due to the ongoing controversy surrounding individual exhibits there is a particular urgency for consultation on specific problematic works. We have therefore now already submitted to the shareholders an initial assessment by the panel on this issue. This assessment relates to a work over which consensus prevails within the body as to the need for immediate action. More detailed analysis on the organizational structures of the Artistic Direction and on other works will follow at a later date.

At the level of the exhibited works, the most urgent task, in the panel's view, is to stop the screening of the compilation of pro-Palestinian propaganda films from the 1960s-1980s by the collective "Subversive Film," shown under the name "Tokyo Reels Film Festival." What is highly problematic about this work are not only the film documents laced with anti-Semitic and anti-Zionist fragments, but also the artists' comments inserted between the films, where the hatred of Israel and the glorification of terrorism featured in the source material is legitimized through their uncritical discussion. The historical propaganda material is not critically reflected upon – as it doubtless should be – but affirmed as a purportedly objective factual report. As a result, the films pose a greater danger in their potentially inciteful impact than the already removed "People's Justice" work. Many of the films present Israel and its armed forces exclusively as perpetrators who deliberately attack civilians, especially women and children. By contrast, the Palestinian side is portrayed as innocent and defenseless. The repeated terrorist attacks against Israeli civilians are not mentioned here – nor in the entire exhibition – nor is the fact that Israel has been regularly attacked by the armies of Syria, Jordan and Egypt. Moreover, the one-sided negative portrayal of Israel turns into open anti-Semitism on several occasions. To cite but one example: Israel is accused of being "fascist" in nature and of carrying out "genocide" against the Palestinians – it is thus equated with National Socialist Germany. Equating Israeli policies with those of the Nazis in this way must be judged as anti-Semitic, for example, according to the definition of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance, which has been adopted by many nations, including some countries of the Global South. Also problematic is the genesis of the work. According to the documenta website, Masao Adachi played a role in entrusting Subversive Film with the film reels. Adachi was a member of the Japanese Red Army and collaborated with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, two groups that carried out terrorist attacks against Israeli and other civilians, including the 1972 Lod Airport massacre where 26 people were murdered. A possible resumption of screenings of the films would only be conceivable if they were contextualized in a way that clarified the propaganda nature of the films, clearly identified their anti-Semitic elements, and corrected historical misrepresentations.

The panel is aware that documenta fifteen is exhibiting a multitude of outstanding and inspiring art works that it cannot take into consideration in its work. Its task consists of examining a selection of the works for their anti-Semitic content and clarifying why they are or were exhibited at documenta fifteen.

We have been appointed by the shareholders of documenta gGmbH as a scientific advisory panel to analyze those works that have been identified or discussed as anti-Semitic, examine how documenta fifteen has dealt with incidents of anti-Semitism, and develop proposals on how to prevent similar occurrences in future. Due to the ongoing controversy surrounding individual exhibits and documenta fifteen as a whole, there is a particular urgency for consultation on these issues. We have therefore submitted to the shareholders an initial assessment by the Undersigned Members of the Panel, which is more comprehensive in some respects than the statement by the panel as a whole.

1. At the Level of Exhibited Works, Film and Archive Materials.
At the level of the exhibited works, the most urgent task, in the panel's view, is to stop the screening of the compilation of pro-Palestinian propaganda films from the 1960s-1980s by the collective "Subversive Film," shown under the name "Tokyo Reels Film Festival." What is highly problematic about this work are not only the film documents laced with anti-Semitic and anti-Zionist fragments, but also the artists' comments inserted between the films, where the hatred of Israel and the glorification of terrorism featured in the source material is legitimized through their uncritical discussion. The historical propaganda material is not critically reflected upon – as it doubtless should be – but affirmed as a purportedly objective factual report. As a result, the films pose a greater danger in their potentially inciteful impact than the already removed "People's Justice" work.

Many of the films present Israel and its armed forces exclusively as perpetrators who deliberately attack civilians, especially women and children. By contrast, the Palestinian side is portrayed as innocent and defenseless. The repeated terrorist attacks against Israeli civilians are not mentioned here – nor in the entire exhibition – nor is the fact that Israel has been regularly attacked by the armies of Syria, Jordan and Egypt. Moreover, the one-sided negative portrayal of Israel turns into open anti-Semitism on several occasions. To cite but one example: Israel is accused of being "fascist" in nature and of carrying out "genocide" against the Palestinians – it is thus equated with National Socialist Germany. Equating Israeli policies with those of the Nazis in this way must be judged as anti-Semitic, for example, according to the definition of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance, which has been adopted by many nations, including some countries of the Global South. Also problematic is the genesis of the work. According to the documenta website, Masao Adachi played a role in entrusting Subversive Film with the film reels. Adachi was a member of the Japanese Red Army and collaborated with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, two groups that carried out terrorist attacks against Israeli and other civilians, including the 1972 Lod Airport massacre where 26 people were murdered. A possible resumption of screenings of the films would only be conceivable if they were contextualized in a way that clarified the propaganda nature of the films, clearly identified their anti-Semitic elements, and corrected historical misrepresentations.

In the view of the Undersigned Members of the Panel, the "Tokyo Reels Film Festival" is the most glaring example of documenta fifteen's bias with regard to the Arab-Israeli conflict which is dealt with by a comparatively large number of works. Almost all these works express attitudes that range from critically biased to decidedly anti-Israeli. These attitudes are reflected in the pictorial representations and statements, which can be judged as anti-Semitic according to commonly accepted criteria. This becomes particularly evident when the existence of Israel is questioned or denied in the works. From this perspective, the Undersigned Members of the Panel consider it necessary to examine the series of works "Guernica Gaza" and documents from the Archives des luttes des femmes en Algérie. The analysis of these and other works – among others by Taring Padi – is still ongoing. More detailed statements will be made available to the shareholders at a later date.

2. At the Level of the Artistic Direction
In the view of the Undersigned Members of the Panel, the described bias of the presented positions on the Arab-Israeli conflict cannot be attributed to the individual artists, but is a consequence of a curatorial concept of the Artistic Direction, which deliberately refrained from control over the compilation and presentation of the exhibition. This in principle welcome dialogical and cooperative approach, however, does not change the overall curatorial responsibility of ruangrupa. The Artistic Direction alone had the opportunity to look at the exhibition from an overall perspective. Even if it may have deliberately refrained from such an overview, it remains responsible for the entire exhibition. As a result, the Artistic Direction is responsible for a documenta in which anti-Semitic works were exhibited and Israel and Israelis appear exclusively as perpetrators and aggressors. The impression of a curatorial imbalance is reinforced by the fact that the exhibition does not give any scope for debate on National Socialism and the Shoah and their consequences, nor to Jewish perspectives on the Middle East conflict, and by the fact that the Artistic Direction has always associated its own political project with the curation. We also find problematic the Artistic Direction's failure to grapple with the anti-Semitic incidents, the criticism of which is discredited as "censorship".

3. At the Level of documenta Organization Also at the level of the documenta organization, the Undersigned Members of the Panel are of the opinion that the procedural processes and communication in response to the discussions are inadequate if not counterproductive. For dealing with problematic works, documenta does not seem to have a procedure in place that goes beyond examining the culpability of an exhibit. The documenta organization does not seem to be set up to mediate in the event of internal or public criticism of the project or the Artistic Direction. The Undersigned find it particularly regrettable that documenta management failed to enter into a sustained dialogue with representatives of the Jewish community in Germany after the events began.

Taking these three levels together, it becomes clear that the serious problems of documenta fifteen exist not only in the presentation of isolated works featuring anti-Semitic imagery and statements, but also in a curatorial and organizational structural environment that allowed an anti-Zionist, anti-Semitic, and anti-Israel sentiment.

Signatories:
Nicole Deitelhoff (Chair)
Julia Bernstein
Marina Chernivsky
Peter Jelavich
Christoph Möllers

On Saturday, August 6, 2022, documenta fifteen reached the halfway point of its 100-day run. By the 50th day, more than 410,000 visitors had visited documenta fifteen at 32 exhibition venues enjoying works by more than 1,500 artists. This means documenta fifteen's interim figures are close to those of the previous edition that boasted the hitherto highest number of visitors, and this despite the Covid-19 pandemic: documenta 14 was visited by 445,000 people during the first half of its run in Kassel.

At documenta fifteen, around over 25,000 schoolchildren were addressed in class groups during so-called School Walks and School Workshops (at the halfway point of documenta 14, 20,000 schoolchildren had already been addressed).

In addition, more than 14,600 season ticket holders followed the activities of documenta fifteen particularly closely.

In keeping with lumbung values such as generosity and solidarity, documenta fifteen is offering the solidarity ticket for the first time in documenta history, which is intended to give as many people as possible access to the exhibition: By purchasing it at the regular ticket price, one provides free access to the exhibition for one additional person. The solidarity ticket has already been purchased over 3,000 times and has been very well received.

So far, around 36,000 visitors have taken part in the Walks and Stories section – how the guided tours by the sobat-sobat art educators are called. That is almost 20,000 less than at documenta 14, where there were already 54,000 at the halfway point. From the point of view of documenta gGmbH, this drop is probably mainly due to the Covid-related impacts on the business and group travel market.

According to the first interim results of the visitor survey, the ratio of visits from Germany to those from abroad, at around 70/30 percent, seems to roughly correspond to the result of documenta 14, at 65/35 percent.

The days of documenta fifteen with the highest number of visitors were Saturdays, followed by Fridays. Tuesdays were also better attended than other weekdays. The most frequented venues were Fridericianum, documenta Halle, Hallenbad Ost and Hübner Areal.

Events and activations are an integral part of documenta fifteen. As part of the lumbung and ruruHaus program, more than 830 events by participating artists and their cooperation partners have already taken place during the runtime. Meydan, with its packed program concentrated on three weekends of the runtime, had its successful kick-off from July 8–10, 2022 in the city center. Meydan #2 will take place next weekend, August 12–14, 2022, in cooperation with the Schlachthof Cultural Center and will present a series of concerts and events as well as the GDR International film program at the Gloria cinema.

The Artistic Direction ruangrupa as well as the artistic team are pleased that they have already been able to involve so many people with the community-oriented documenta fifteen: they see Kassel and documenta fifteen as an important stop for all participants on their joint lumbung journey: "The lumbung community has already begun to connect with Kassel's urban society and its multitude of different communities, but also with the ekosistems of the artists in other places, in the ruruHaus before the opening. We wish that documenta fifteen can run its course until September 25 with all the activities that we – ruangrupa, the artistic team, artists and cooperation partners – have planned for it with the involved ekosistems. Together, we want to trigger impulses that can create sustainable changes in thinking and acting for all guests and participants even beyond the 100 days. The working groups, such as lumbung Gallery, lumbung Kios, lumbung.space and lumbung Radio are also working intensively on this. We would like to already now express our great appreciation and gratitude to all the visitors, artists, team, supporters, and partners."

In order to strengthen documenta fifteen as a place of mutual learning and understanding, the Artistic Direction is currently adding contextualizations in various formats to several works in the exhibition. This process has already been initiated and will be successively continued.

In addition, the intended bilingualism (English / German) in the exhibition will be increasingly pursued by adding more label and wall texts in German to increase the accessibility of the contributions.

Alexander Farenholtz was today unanimously appointed interim Managing Director of documenta by the Supervisory Board of documenta und Museum Fridericianum gGmbH. This decision was announced on Monday by Kassel’s Lord Mayor Christian Geselle, Chairman of the documenta Supervisory Board, and his deputy on the Supervisory Board, Hessian Minister for Science and the Arts Angela Dorn.

documenta’s shareholders are pleased and grateful to have secured such an experienced and renowned cultural manager for the important world art exhibition in Kassel in what is a challenging situation for documenta. Alexander Farenholtz will assume this role as early as Tuesday, July 19. The appointment will initially run for a limited term until September 30, 2022. It is Mr. Farenholtz’s wish, after consultation with the shareholders, to now begin talks first with the Artistic Direction and then, of course, with the documenta gGmbH team.

Mr. Farenholtz has been well acquainted with Kassel and documenta for many years: after completing his studies (Administrative Science in Constance) and his first professional positions, he was appointed Managing Director of documenta GmbH in 1989, among other things for the realization of documenta 9 under the Artistic Direction of Jan Hoet.

In 1993, he moved to the Baden-Württemberg Ministry of Art as Head of the Minister’s Office and in 1996, together with Tom Stromberg, took charge of the cultural program of the world exhibition EXPO2000 in Hanover.

At the start of 2002, he was appointed Founding Director and Administrative Director of the German Federal Cultural Foundation. He held this office, alongside Hortensia Völckers as Artistic Director, until reaching retirement age in January 2020.

Antisemitism in the Arts
Wednesday, June 29, 2022, 6.30–8 pm
On site in Kassel and via livestream

An event by Bildungsstätte Anne Frank and documenta gGmbH

About
Antisemitism is a widespread problem throughout society, in Germany and globally. This is now evident in Kassel: Antisemitic imagery at the global documenta fifteen. How could it come to this? What is needed now for not escalating the polarized debate even further? How do we converge the ideas of avoiding censorship and avoiding antisemitic art? The panel dares to attempt a problem diagnosis on anti-Semitism and the arts, also in relation to the state of Israel – and at documenta fifteen.

Speakers
Prof. Dr. Nikita Dhawan, Professor for Political Theory and the History of Ideas, TU Dresden

Prof. Dr. Doron Kiesel, scientific Director of the Education Department of Zentralrat der Juden in Deutschland

Prof. Dr. Meron Mendel, Director of Bildungsstätte Anne Frank

Adam Szymczyk, curator and author, Zürich. He was the artistic director of documenta 14 in Athens and Kassel (2017) and is curator-at-large at the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam

Hortensia Völckers, Artistic Director of the German Federal Cultural Foundation

Host
Stefan Koldehoff, Deutschlandfunk Kultur

Welcoming address
Angela Dorn, Hessian Minister of Higher Education, Research and the Arts

In German and English with simultaneous translation into English and German as well as German Sign Language.

Location
UK 14 – Untere Karlsstraße 14, 34117 Kassel as well as via livestream

Due to the current developments in connection with the COVID-19 pandemic, on-site seating space is highly limited. We kindly ask to follow the event via livestream.

YouTube channel of documenta: https://bit.ly/3OmaeYu
YouTube channel of Bildungsstätte Anne Frank (German livestream only): https://www.youtube.com/c/Bildungsst%C3%A4tteAnneFrank

documenta has decided, in consultation with various participants, to suspend the series of events planned for May 8, 15, and 22, 2022, We need to talk! Art – Freedom – Solidarity.

documenta will open the exhibition and first let it speak for itself, as a basis for continuing the discussion in a productive manner. At this moment, documenta’s intended goal for the series of talks – to open a multi-perspective dialogue beyond institutional frameworks in the run-up to documenta fifteen – is unfortunately not realizable. It is important to documenta that the thread of this conversation not be cut off. documenta hopes to build on the existing approach to this discussion on site in Kassel during documenta fifteen. This will also provide an opportunity to address concerns that have been publicly expressed in recent days.

documenta would like to thank the panelists for their willingness to participate in the planned series of events We need to talk! Art – Freedom – Solidarity.

Together with Hatje Cantz as partner publishing house, documenta fifteen will be presenting four publications in German and English in June 2022: a handbook, a family guide, a magazine, and an Anthology of literary texts.

The Handbook is a companion to the exhibition, a reference work, and an innovative art guide. It introduces the concept of the exhibition, illuminating central aspects and introducing the protagonists of documenta fifteen. The Family Guide Walking, Finding, Sharing invites visitors to experience in five word-and-image tours the lumbung values of Humor, Local Anchor, Independence, Generosity, and Transparency. The two issues of the magazine majalah lumbung, entitled Harvesting and Sharing, provide a foundation for documenta fifteen in the form of short stories and features by Indonesian authors. Finally, lumbung erzählen (lumbung storytelling) presents seven literary texts by international novelists on collective work and forms of community.

The four publications are centered around documenta fifteen principles – like collectivity, sustainability, and shared resources – not only in terms of content, but also in their production process, appearance, and mode of distribution. Thus, for the Handbook, international authors were invited who are familiar with the respective artistic practice and cultural context of the participants they present. For the anthology lumbung erzählen, seven international publishers have joined forces to make editions in additional languages possible. All four titles are produced sustainably following the guidelines of the “Blue Angel” eco-label and printed on 100% recycled paper with certified ink.

The four publications will be available in bookstores at documenta fifteen in Kassel from June 15, 2022.

More information

We need to talk!
Art – Freedom – Solidarity

Online conversation series
Sundays, May 8, 15, and 22, 2022
2–5 pm (CEST)
In German and English with simultaneous translation
Livestream via YouTube: https://bit.ly/WeNeedToTalk_ArtFreedomSolidarity

We need to talk! Art – Freedom – Solidarity is a series of conversations hosted by documenta and documenta archiv on the role of art and artistic freedom in the face of rising antisemitism, racism, and Islamophobia.

In the run-up to documenta fifteen (June 18 to September 25, 2022), three forums will bring together interlocutors and contributors from the fields of art, politics, and academia to discuss complex challenges in the context of art and culture. The focus will be on Germany’s particular historical responsibility, but also on forms of erasure, zeroing in on the blank spots in the German debate surrounding antisemitism and racism.

Participants are Schirin Amir-Moazami, Omri Boehm, Marina Chernivsky, Manuela Consonni, Nikita Dhawan, Diedrich Diederichsen, Sultan Doughan, Sarah El Bulbeisi, Anselm Franke, Raphael Gross, Teresa Koloma Beck, Meron Mendel, Ben Miller, Nicolas Siepen, Cihan Sinanoğlu, Hito Steyerl, Natan Sznaider, Hannah Tzuberi, Mezna Qato, and Eyal Weizman.

The series is planned as a digital event in German and English with simultaneous translation. It will take place on three consecutive Sundays: May 8, 15, and 22, 2022, from 2 to 5 pm.

More information

As an art and cultural organization of global scope, documenta and Museum Fridericianum gGmbH stands for artistic and academic freedom. It is an organization grounded on the German constitution and international legal conventions. Moreover, it takes the responsibility that arises from Germany’s particular history very seriously.

These premises form the basis of the mission of documenta and Museum Fridericianum gGmbH to open up spaces for art in which independent and contrary discourses are allowed to take place. Falsifying representations or racist defamations, such as those currently being made against participants of documenta fifteen, are destructive and hinder critical dialogue and productive debate.

For documenta fifteen, ruangrupa and the Artistic Team have invited positions which engage through artistic means on behalf of their respective local contexts, in the sense of the lumbung practice. Correspondingly, artists have not been invited by the criteria of whether they see themselves as apolitical or as having a political orientation. Precisely because it acknowledges the complexity of our present times, documenta fifteen does not align itself with any specific political movement but emphasizes the right of all people to stand up for their rights and counter discrimination. Not only the principles of freedom of expression but also a resolute rejection of antisemitism, racism, extremism, Islamophobia, and any form of violent fundamentalism are the underpinnings of our work. The rights of all people to a self-determined life in peace, dignity, and security is elementary to the team of documenta fifteen.

Decontextualization or the reduction of complexity contributes to a narrowing of the space for discourse by offering seemingly easy answers and simplistic dichotomies to the challenging questions of our present. Moreover, they do not do justice to the social possibilities inherent to art and culture: it is precisely this field that offers a free space for testing the tolerance for ambiguities – even speculatively, experimentally, or associatively – and for negotiating how we aspire to live together.

documenta fifteen, like its predecessors, explicitly rejects any external interference in this artistic freedom. In the spirit of an open and multi-voiced debate, documenta fifteen plans to invite international experts to the forum We need to talk! Art – Freedom – Limits (working title). Voices from various fields including colonialism, racism, and land rights research, Holocaust and antisemitism studies, Indigenous studies, law and the media as well as art and cultural work will enter into a debate to discuss the fundamental right of artistic freedom in the face of increasing racism, Islamophobia and antisemitism.

Further information about the digital event will be published soon on the website of documenta fifteen.

documenta und Museum Fridericianum gGmbH is delighted to announce that Moritz Wesseler’s tenure as Director of the Fridericianum has been extended by its Supervisory Board to 2027.

Since 2019 Wesseler has presented in Kassel highly acclaimed solo exhibitions by artists who previously had not been offered a broad platform in Germany in an institutional context – such as Ron Nagle, Rachel Rose or Tarek Atoui. With this specific focus he consolidates and enhances the status of the North Hessian metropolis as a location for artistic and creative innovation and experimentation.

A further focal point of his activities is the elaboration and implementation of retrospective exhibitions on historical stances. For instance, the to date most comprehensive show on the creativity of the “visionary painter” Forrest Bess presented an artistic position that is of great relevance for numerous artists as well as for the pressing socio-political discourses of the present.

The various exhibition projects are accompanied by multifaceted educational and event programs tailored to different ages and interest groups. These are held in the form of guided tours, lectures or workshops at the Fridericianum, as well as via podcasts and interview or documentary films in the digital space. The institution’s activities are thus made even more visible on an international level and sustainably rooted in people’s consciousness. This phenomenon could be seen, for example, on US election day 2020 in the illumination of the Fridericianum by filmmaker and painter Trisha Baga, which received attention far beyond Germany’s borders.

Currently, the Kunsthalle is presenting solo exhibitions by the artists Toba Khedoori and Martine Syms. For the period following documenta fifteen, Wesseler is planning, amongst other things, to leverage the building and adjacent Friedrichsplatz even more comprehensively with site-specific interventions such as the so-called “green Greta” by Alexandra Bircken, in parallel to diverse and international exhibitions.

www.fridericianum.org

Toba Khedoori
October 9, 2021 – February 20, 2022

For over twenty-five years Toba Khedoori, born in Sydney in 1964 and now living in Los Angeles, has been developing a body of work that can be described as one of the most outstanding and singular contributions to contemporary art. Her works—made through a lengthy, highly concentrated production process—tread a fine line between painting and drawing, while also possessing a distinctly haptic quality. As a rule, the starting point for her art are sheets of paper treated with wax that she combines to form monumental image carriers that envelop the viewer’s field of vision. Upon these, Khedoori then creates immensely detailed drawings in graphite and oil paints, which are extraordinarily precise in their execution. Her motifs range from buildings, windows, cinema seats, and fireplaces to branches, grasses, clouds, horizon lines, and more. Human beings are only ever present in the traces they leave; they are never the prime focus of a composition. In many of Khedoori’s works the motifs are detached from their original context and occupy an expansive, empty pictorial space. Time and place do not appear to apply in these realms. This in turn creates a situation where certain works develop moments of abstraction, which open up yet another dimension in Khedoori’s art.

Since 2008 Khedoori has also made paintings on canvas that are considerably smaller than the aforesaid works on paper. These smaller pieces continue to engage with themes arising from the tension between human beings and the natural world, albeit with a greater emphasis on the interplay between representationalism and abstraction. Many of these compositions avoid easy legibility, bringing to the fore the interaction of lines, structures, and colors. Regardless of their level of abstraction these paintings exude an unusual strength—quiet yet remarkable—which in fact characterizes all of Khedoori’s art. This innate strength raises questions about the fundamental parameters of life and in so doing establishes the philosophical meta-level of her work.

The Fridericianum will present Khedoori’s first solo exhibition in a German art institution. Through a selection of works created between 1994 and 2021, this survey show illustrates the diversity and development of Khedoori’s graphic and painterly oeuvre.

Website of the Fridericianum

Martine Syms: Aphrodite’s Beasts
July 3, 2021 – January 9, 2022

Born in 1988 in Los Angeles, Martine Syms has emerged in recent years as one of the central and defining figures in the younger, international discourse on art and culture. In her multidisciplinary practice, which spans film, photography, installation, performance, and writing, the artist explores manifold, compelling questions in order to map new perspectives on life and society. Thus, through precise observations and in-depth research, Syms addresses the representation and reception of African American identities and cultures, the theories and realities of feminism, the conditions of interpersonal communication, and the impact of digital media on everyday life. Characterized by both conceptual and pop approaches, her work displays a marked sense of humor without ever losing its seriousness and urgency. Developed especially for Kassel and entitled Aphrodite´s Beasts, the exhibition presents the artist’s work to a broader audience in Germany for the first time by means of large-format film installations, new photographs, site specific interventions, and objects.

Website of the Fridericianum

At today’s meetings, the Supervisory Board and shareholders of documenta und Museum Fridericianum gGmbH decided that documenta fifteen can take place in Kassel as planned from June 18 to September 25, 2022. The committees reported comprehensively on the feasibility of the exhibition in light of developments regarding the COVID-19 pandemic as well as the infrastructural challenges and variables influencing the realization of the curatorial concept.

Since spring 2020, the planning of documenta fifteen has been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and has already required numerous adaptations. For example, the worldwide studio visits and working meetings with the Artistic Direction and international artists and groups took place exclusively in the digital space for almost a year and a half. The mutual exchange and site-specific development of projects, which are important to the concept of ruangrupa, were thus rendered more difficult. Nevertheless, planning is progressing, both in terms of the selection of individual exhibition venues and the preparations of artistic positions. Safety and hygiene are a constant consideration—from the choice of sufficiently large indoor and outdoor locations to digital solutions for guiding visitors and supporting the visitor experience. ruangrupa’s curatorial concept, which is based on a comprehensive approach to sustainability, accommodates these developments so that in many respects new things can emerge from the crisis.

The Supervisory Board’s recommendation that the fifteenth edition of documenta takes place as scheduled in 2022 is also supported by the documenta fifteen Finding Committee (documenta Committee), which met in advance of today’s meeting. The Finding Committee emphasizes that the curatorial practice of ruangrupa represents an apt response to the urgencies of our time; it is rooted in life and process-oriented, and therefore has the power to take on moments of uncertainty. The resolution of the shareholders’ meeting is still to be confirmed by a resolution of the municipal council of the City of Kassel.

The Fridericianum reopens to the public on Thursday, June 3, 2021 with the new exhibition Vincent Fecteau.

Since the early 1990s, Vincent Fecteau has worked with simple, sometimes everyday materials such as papier-mâché, foamcore, champagne corks, popsicle sticks, and shells to produce a body of work comprising sculptures and collages in a wide variety of forms. Some of his creations are small-scale, linear, monochrome or abstract, while others are expansive, intricate, colorful or narrative. They reflect his preoccupation with both genre-specific issues and socio-cultural developments and, as a whole, represent a very idiosyncratic position characterized by compositional sophistication, a nuanced poetics, and an empathetic attitude.

The Fridericianum is presenting the first institutional solo exhibition in Germany dedicated to the artist, who was born in 1969 in Islip, New York. Encompassing more than sixty selected works created between 1993 and 2020, the show provides a comprehensive overview of Fecteau’s oeuvre.

Website of the Fridericianum

On May 12, 2021 Joseph Beuys would have turned one hundred. He is still considered one of the most influential artists of the present day, not least because of his broad-based and cross-discipline understanding of art. In particular, his ecological visions, discourses on political participation and the relevance of culture for society and its transformation processes are as topical today as ever.

The City of Kassel and the artist Beuys, seven-time documenta exhibitor, are tied by close links. Joseph Beuys’ first participation was at documenta 3 in 1964 that featured the young artist’s drawings. Until the end of his life Joseph Beuys then took part in every subsequent documenta. His works were also posthumously exhibited in 1987 (d8) and 1992 (d9). The Free International University (d6) and the artwork 7000 Eichen – Stadtverwaldung statt Stadtverwaltung (d7) still have an impact on the city of Kassel and live on in numerous institutions as well as in the cityscape.

Joseph Beuys’ 100th birthday will be marked in Kassel by the anniversary program BEUYSLABORKASSEL2021. It will highlight the special relationship between the city of Kassel and the artist Joseph Beuys as well as his impact on current artistic and social issues with a specially designed series of exhibitions, events, conferences, publications, performances and activities.

Representatives from numerous Kassel institutions and key Beuys figures spent a year preparing the BEUYSLABORKASSEL2021 program in a process of mutual exchange. The following project partners were involved in this joint development process: the documenta archiv, documenta und Museum Fridericianum gGmbH, Museumslandschaft Hessen Kassel, the Department of Culture / Cultural Office of the City of Kassel, the foundation 7000 Eichen, the foundation cdw-Stiftung, the documenta forum Kassel e.V., galeria kollektiva, KolorCubes e.V., Staatstheater Kassel, Studio Lev Kassel e.V., the City of Kassel’s Environment and Gardens Office, Werkstatt Kassel e.V., the Social Sculpture Lab under the direction of long-standing Oxford lecturer and Beuys pupil Shelley Sacks as well as art historian and archaeologist Dr. Rhea Thönges-Stringaris.

For the documenta archiv, Museumslandschaft Hessen Kassel/Neue Galerie and the City of Kassel artist Shelley Sacks developed the Kassel-21 / Social Sculpture Lab. Following this exhibition, the documenta archiv and the Museumslandschaft Hessen Kassel will provide further perspective on Joseph Beuys and his work through another contemporary witness at the Neue Galerie: Kassel-based photographer Dieter Schwerdtle specialized in comprehensively documenting the Kassel art scene and the documenta as well as its surroundings. He photographed documenta exhibitions 5 to 11 and also met Joseph Beuys on several occasions during his exhibitions and activities in Kassel. As part of BEUYSLABORKASSEL2021, the Neue Galerie will be showcasing selected works from the Dieter Schwerdtle estate.

Due to the ongoing pandemic-related restrictions, planned formats and dates will be continuously adapted to this situation. All current information can be found at: www.beuyslaborkassel2021.de

The documenta archiv presents the virtual *Platform6 *in honor of Okwui Enwezor via the link www.documenta-platform6.de, starting today.

Platform6 is a constantly growing online project and a place for lively debates about Documenta11 and its ideas. It gathers historical materials from the documenta archiv and current contributions by artists, curators, and Enwezor's companions that address themes of solidarity, globalization, and collectivity.

Further information: Website of the documenta archiv

At the suggestion of the Arnold Bode Foundation's curatorial board, the city council of Kassel, in its function as the executive board of the Foundation, has decided to award the Arnold Bode Prize 2021 to the Instituto de Artivismo Hannah Arendt (INSTAR) and the artist Tania Bruguera. This recommendation honors both the collective and its founder Tania Bruguera.

Born in 1968, Tania Bruguera is an artist with an international reputation as a politically engaged installation and performance artist. In 2002, her performance installation in the Binding Brewery for Documenta11 made a lasting impression. Her "Arte Útil," useful art, makes social grievances and the abuse of political power directly tangible while also offering ways of creating change. After Fidel Castro's death in 2016, Bruguera became involved in actions and projects that would lead Cuba out of totalitarianism. However, the hope for a Cuban Spring was not fulfilled. Instead, Bruguera has been repeatedly imprisoned and continually placed under house arrest. But her commitment remains unbroken. In 2015, together with a group of fellow activists, she founded the collective INSTAR.

INSTAR is part of documenta fifteen's lumbung network. According to the Arnold Bode Foundation's curatorial board, the recognition of INSTAR’s risky work, which accompanies the award, cannot be overestimated in terms of the motivation it will inspire in the artists. According to Bruguera, it also provides "a huge protection."

The Arnold Bode Foundation Prize, worth 10,000 euros, has been awarded since 1980. Initially presented annually, after 1987, it was awarded biannually and every documenta year to artists in recognition of their outstanding achievements for contemporary art. It was most recently awarded in 2019 to Hans Haacke.

More information: Website of the City of Kassel

Starting on Saturday, April 3, 2021, the seven-part conversation series lumbung calling launches documenta fifteen’s Public Program, activated under the title Meydan. Each edition of the series is dedicated to one of the lumbung values: Local Anchor, Humor, Generosity, Independence, Transparency, Sufficiency, and Regeneration. The format dives deeper into the background of the artistic concept for documenta fifteen and illuminates the idea of lumbung from many different angles.

Through conversations with a variety of guests, lumbung calling will explore the rich meaning of lumbung across multiple disciplines, points of view, and contexts within an artistic framing. The invited protagonists have faced major challenges and initiated true revolutions on various scales: academics, cultural activists, independent researchers, organic farmers, fishermen, and festival organizers, among others.

lumbung calling will take place on the first Saturday of every month over seven sessions, from April to October 2021. The conversation series will begin digitally through documenta fifteen’s social media channels YouTube and Facebook. As soon as the restrictions around the COVID-19 pandemic allow, lumbung calling will shift to a hybrid format and eventually take place as a physical event in Kassel.

lumbung as a set of values and a cosmology
With its unique shapes and styles, lumbung is an easily recognizable building in Indonesia, similar to a barn. In the official dictionary of the Indonesian language, Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia, lumbung is defined as “a container to store agricultural products, commonly rice, in the form of a house on stilts with walls of woven wood or bamboo.” This definition has implications for the way lumbung is interpreted: lumbung can be defined as a place to store harvested crops, particularly in agrarian societies. At the same time, this description confines the meaning of the word to a distinctive architecture. As a practice, however, lumbung transcends its physical appearance as a building and expands to include spaces beyond the agricultural. In Indonesia’s cultural discourse, the term lumbung is used to describe shared collective resources. Seen from this point of view, lumbung is not only a building or object but also a set of values and a cosmology that describes the living practice of a society. It is evidence of a communal life marked by the spirit of collaboration, and its characteristics can be traced back to premodern societies. Today, the accelerated development and modernization of predominantly capitalist modes of production demand a constant redefinition of values. lumbung calling asks how these values can be translated into artistic practice and open up new spaces for conversation.

First edition of lumbung calling: Local Anchor
The first lumbung calling on April 3, 2021, focuses on the value of Local Anchor. The metaphor of an anchor describes the value of soil in our globalized yet divided world: soil that enables roots to grow and connects trees located miles and miles apart. Just as trees echo each other’s signals, harvesting and cultivation methods can resonate with and be amplified by local wisdoms, bringing to life new resources, and developing diverse relationships with time. Guests Melani Budianta and Armin Salassa examine ways of challenging integrated models of political, social, and economic behavior in a discussion unfurling from the point of view of a seed to the tender voices of concerned mothers. The first edition of lumbung calling will be hosted by Jumana Emil Abboud and Mirwan Andan. The event will be held in English and translated into International Sign Language.

Melani Budianta is a professor of Literature and Cultural Studies in the Faculty of Humanities at the University of Indonesia and a member of the Inter-Asia Cultural Studies Society. Since the late 1980s, Budianta has undertaken research and writing focused on gender and cultural activism. Her articles have been published in academic journals, newspapers, and magazines. During the Asian financial crisis of 1997–1998, she participated in Indonesia’s women’s movement. In 2020, Melani Budianta presented her talk Lumbung Budaya Sepanjang Gang or Cultural Granaries Along the Alleys, organized by the Jakarta Art Council.

Armin Salassa is a farmer and activist in Bulukumba, South Sulawesi, Indonesia. In 2011, Salassa—along with farmers from the village where he was born—began implementing natural farming, an organic practice that has long existed in many other areas of the archipelago. Natural farming techniques combine scientific knowledge with wisdom, stories, and practices inherited from ancestors, removing the need for chemical fertilizers, pesticides, fungicides, and herbicides. Since 1993, he has worked as a community organizer in various locations throughout Indonesia and advocated for the denied rights of Indigenous people in Palu, Central Sulawesi. Since 2007, Armin Salassa has assisted community organizations in numerous Indonesian villages, including Aceh, Sumatra, following the 2004 tsunami.

Jumana Emil Abboud’s creative interests lie in oral histories, personal and collective stories, and mythologies, particularly folk tales and their sites of being and unbeing. Abboud uses storytelling, performative elements, and workshop methodologies in her artistic practice to investigate our relationship to time and place, to the human and non-human, exploring tools of memory, attachment, and dispossession amid the challenge for continuity within political, ecological, and cultural struggles. Her work has been shown at The Jerusalem Show; BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art, England; Sharjah Biennale, United Arab Emirates; Istanbul Biennale, Turkey; and Venice Biennale, Italy, among many others. She has participated in art residencies including, Sakiya – Art/Science/Agriculture, Palestine; Delfina Foundation, England; Arts Initiative Tokyo, Japan; and Guestatelier Krone, Switzerland. Jumana Emil Abboud is currently pursuing a practice-led PhD at the Slade School of Fine Art, University College London.

Mirwan Andan is a member of ruangrupa, Artistic Direction of documenta fifteen.

Program
lumbung calling: Local Anchor
Saturday, April 3, 2021, 2.30 pm (CET), 7.30 pm (WIB), 8.30 pm (WITA)
With Melani Budianta and Armin Salassa, hosted by Jumana Emil Abboud and Mirwan Andan
In English with translation into International Sign Language
Livestream via Facebook, YouTube and the ruruHaus window

Further Dates
lumbung calling: Humor, Saturday, May 1, 2021
lumbung calling: Generosity, Saturday, June 5, 2021
lumbung calling: Independence, Saturday, July 3, 2021
lumbung calling: Transparency, Saturday, August 7, 2021
lumbung calling: Sufficiency, Saturday, September 4, 2021
lumbung calling: Regeneration, Saturday, October 2, 2021

Within the framework of documenta fifteen, the Artistic Team has approached collectives, organizations, and institutions from around the world to gather and practice lumbung. So far, nine lumbung members have been announced. After intensive exchange between them and the Artistic Team, as well as several conversations with the organizations concerned, five new lumbung members are proudly announced: Britto Arts Trust (Dhaka, Bangladesh), FAFSWAG (Auckland, Aotearoa), Instituto de Artivismo Hannah Arendt (INSTAR; Havana, Cuba), Project Art Works (Hastings, United Kingdom), and Wajukuu Art Project (Nairobi, Kenya).

Each of the now fourteen lumbung members will share various resources to the collective lumbung (rice barn). Together, they will develop long-term conversations, in which the sharing of time, space, money, knowledge, care, or art will increase the well-being of each of their local practices and ecosystems, and of the lumbung network—during documenta fifteen and beyond. Working with different artistic approaches, as well as learning from other models of education, ecology, or economy, and related lumbung practices in different parts of the world is considered pivotal to lumbung.

The end of 2020 saw the documenta archiv being accepted into the Arbeitskreis selbständiger Kultur-Institute e.V. (AsKI). The decision of the AsKI board and its members, including the Archives of the Akademie der Künste in Berlin, the Deutsches Literaturarchiv in Marbach, and the Freies Deutsches Hochstift in Frankfurt am Main, acknowledges the international importance of the documenta archiv as a commemorative record of the documenta exhibitions, as a center for preserving and documenting the testimonies of 20th and 21st century art, and as an independently and innovatively operating cultural and research institution alongside the documenta exhibition and the Fridericianum.

At the same time, the profile of the documenta archiv as an internationally competitive institution for the collection, documentation and research of the art of the 20th and 21st century art and its significance for societal, political and social developments, its presentation and art journalistic exploitation is also recognized and promoted.

The so-called cataloging offensive also plays an important role in this context. This means the documents evidencing the artistic and curatorial work surrounding the documenta exhibitions since 1955 will be professionally indexed for national and international research according to archival and scientific standards. The City of Kassel and the State of Hesse are jointly providing a total of EUR 5.4 million for this purpose through to 2023.

About AsKI: www.aski.org

The visual identity of documenta fifteen, which was developed in collaboration with students and presented to the public today, is inspired by lumbung. With the symbol of the hands, documenta fifteen’s appearance, which was developed out of the design concept of the Jakarta student collective Studio 4oo2, refers to the lumbung principle on which ruangrupa based its documenta, which is all about collective practices of sharing, solidarity and friendship.

The hands depicted in rope describe a communal society that has no limits and offers a sustainable process for the future. The design’s color palette was adapted from natural fabric dyes used for generations in Indonesia to manufacture traditional textile products. These colors were taken mostly from eastern Indonesia, where lumbung is still active.

ruangrupa itself emerged in the mid-1990s from student networks at the art academies in Jakarta and Yogyakarta. For the artists’ collective, polyphony and the integration of the perspectives of the younger generation is key. Learning from this experience and background, in the end of 2019 ruangrupa invited students from Kassel and Jakarta to take part in developing documenta fifteen’s visual identity. From more than twenty submissions by individuals and groups, two design proposals were selected: from Studio 4oo2 from Jakarta and from kmmn_practice from Kassel. In the process, Studio 4oo2 was tasked with developing documenta fifteen’s overall design identity, while kmmn_practice was given the chance to implement their participatory approach for the visual appearance of the ruruHaus. In the early summer of 2020, the Studio 4oo2 students began their collaborative work with Berlin brand agency Stan Hema and documenta’s in-house designer Leon Schniewind.

documenta fifteen presents its visual appearance by means of a film clip and within Kassel’s public space. Among other places, it will be visible in the form of a large mural by Kassel graffiti and street art project KolorCubes at the ruruHaus, the first venue of documenta fifteen.

documenta fifteen has now become a member of the Action Network Sustainability in Culture and Media (Aktionsnetzwerk Nachhaltigkeit in Kultur und Medien – ANKM). Partners such as the Deutscher Bühnenverein, the Deutscher Kulturrat and the Kulturveranstaltungen des Bundes in Berlin GmbH are already part of the ANKM, which is supported by the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media, Minister of State Monika Grütters.

As Dr. Sabine Schormann, General Director of documenta und Museum Fridericianum gGmbH confirmed at the KulturInvest Congress in Potsdam on November 27, 2020, documenta fifteen will be involved in the action network and will support its aims: “Sustainability in culture and media is a basic concern of ruangrupa. The curatorial approach of documenta fifteen is aimed at a community-oriented model of resource use – economically, but also in terms of ideas, knowledge, programs and innovations. Principles such as collectivity and collaboration, resource development and fair distribution are driving forces here. ruangrupa aims to create a globally oriented, cooperative and interdisciplinary art and cultural platform that will remain effective beyond the 100 days of documenta fifteen.”

About the Action Network Sustainability in Culture and Media
The Action Network Sustainability in Culture and Media offers a central, cross-disciplinary contact point themed around operational ecology in culture and media. Exemplary pilot projects are supported and the results are documented and communicated. The vision: a creative, climate-neutral and sustainable cultural and media landscape as part of the German government’s 2030 climate protection goals, the Paris 1.5° Agreement and the 17 Sustainability Goals of the United Nations.
Further information on the ANKM website.

This year, the 37th edition of the Kassel Documentary Film and Video Festival goes online. In the window of the ruruHaus, however, a part of the program can be experienced on site: On the facade of the first venue of documenta fifteen, the Dokfest presents the Indonesian OK.Video Festival, which was organized by ruangrupa from 2003 to 2017, in the section "Festival in Profile".

From November 18 to 27, 2020, the documentation of the workshop "Militia", which took place in 2007 as part of the OK.Video Festival, will be displayed in the window facing Treppenstraße, along with a selection of Indonesian music videos that refer to the history of this genre in the early 2000s. In addition, the video works are available online until November 28, 2020 on the festival website of the Dokfest: https://www.kasselerdokfest.de/dokfestchannels-1/dokfestchannels-okvideo

Further information: https://www.kasselerdokfest.de/

On October 1, 2020, the documenta archiv will embark upon the comprehensive cataloguing and preparation of its holdings. This "cataloguing campaign" is planned to last for ten years. To this end, the State of Hesse and the City of Kassel intend to provide funding totaling EUR 5.4 million by 2030.

The archival testimonies surrounding the documenta exhibitions from 1955 to the present day are to be properly prepared and systematized in line with archival and scientific standards. The archive's holdings will form the core of the emerging documenta Institute and will be accessible to both international researchers and the public alike.
The documenta archiv along with the Bauhaus Archive are among the oldest and most important art archives in Germany. In addition to examining the history of the exhibitions the documenta archiv will also be further developed as a documentation center for contemporary art.

The cataloguing campaign is of crucial importance also for the documenta Institute as it creates international standards: The in-depth cataloguing will be accompanied by the launch of a digital infrastructure and a professional data capture system.
The cataloguing campaign includes a total of 560 running meters of shelving with over 50,000 indexing units – as well as extensive bequests and estates, such as that of documenta founder Arnold Bode in the records and papers archive. In the media collection more than 50 terabytes of digital image and audiovisual media are awaiting systematic structuring and transferal into a digital archive.
Finding aids will be created for more than 65,000 paper prints of photographs, slides and negatives as well as more than 5,000 storage carrier of various kinds.
About 40% of the library's entire holdings (about 42,000 media units), mainly monographs on artists, are to be recorded bibliographically. This process will be accompanied by conservation measures.
"As a result, the documenta archiv will gain in appeal and the team will take on this great task with dedication," says Dr. Birgitta Coers, who will take up the post of Director of the documenta archiv on October 1, 2020.

Further information on the history of the documenta archiv and the cataloguing campaign (in German) can be found here.

Tarek Atoui: Waters’ Witness
October 3, 2020 – January 17, 2021

Tarek Atoui comprehensively exploits the potential of sound art, which lies at the heart of his practice. He is not only interested in how sound events or noises develop an acoustic effect. Equally important to him is how these phenomena can be perceived with sensory organs other than the ear, how they act as a catalyst for human interaction, and how they relate to social, historical, or spatial parameters. The point of departure for his works is usually extensive anthropological, ethnological, musicological, or technical research, which results in the realization of instruments, listening rooms, performances, or workshops.

The Fridericianum presents Waters’ Witness, the first solo exhibition in Germany of the work of Tarek Atoui, an artist who was born in Beirut in 1980 and now lives in Paris. The show is based on Atoui’s ongoing project I/E, where the artist has been documenting the sounds of city ports, including Athens, Abu Dhabi, Singapore, Porto, and Beirut, since 2015. Previously separate components of this research are brought together in Kassel, where audio recordings from different ports are combined with materials — marble blocks and steel girders — gathered from each site to form a single unit in the surrounding space. This arrangement is accompanied by The Tables of Content, a group of works around which the central theme of participation in Atoui’s work coalesce. Atoui’s works have been shown at dOCUMENTA (13) in Kassel (2012) and the 58th Venice Biennale (2019). Parallel to Kassel, a show on the artist’s work will open in autumn 2020 at the Sharjah Art Foundation in the United Arab Emirates.

With the kind support of the Cultural Foundation of Hesse (Hessische Kulturstiftung), the Bureau des arts plastiques of the Institut français and the French Ministry of Culture.

September 1–6, 2020 will see the holding of Kassel’s Museum Week KW36 – Kasseler Woche der Museen. 45 cultural institutions will take part in this new twist on the traditional night of the museums format making it possible to experience the diversity of the Kassel art and cultural scene even in the age of the corona pandemic. documenta gGmbH will be participating along with the Fridericianum, the documenta archiv and the ruruHaus, as the first venue of the forthcoming documenta fifteen.

During its core opening times during KW36 the Fridericianum will host 45-minute guided tours of the Forrest Bess exhibition still running until September 6, 2020 commencing on the hour (Tuesday–Saturday: 3 pm, 4 pm, 5 pm, 6 pm; Sunday: 11 am, 12 noon, 1 pm, 2 pm, 3 pm, 4 pm, 5 pm). In addition, special guided tours for children are offered at the weekend (Saturday and Sunday, 3 pm). Over the entire week Kassel’s pedestrian precinct will become the stage for a performance of It’s a Tragedy by the artist Laure Prouvost between 3.30 pm and 4.30 pm. Friday, Saturday and Sunday will see Hos Søstrene hold, amongst other things, a barbecue outside the Fridericianum serving tasty savory and sweet delicacies for you to enjoy (also vegan).

On its premises at Dock 4 the documenta archiv will be joining forces with the documenta forum and the foundation 7000 Eichen to present selected documents and films as well as photos by Kassel photographer Dieter Schwerdtle on Beuys’ activities in Kassel.

Friday, Saturday (both days at 3–7 pm) and Sunday (11 am–3 pm) ruangrupa and the documenta fifteen team will invite visitors into the ruruHaus (Obere Königsstraße 43, entrance from Treppenstraße) to explore, with local and regional initiatives and organizations as well as the local Kassel population, the practice of the nongkrong. The word nongkrong comes from Indonesian and roughly translated means “chatting in a relaxed setting”.

The State of Hesse, the City of Kassel, Kassel University with Kunsthochschule Kassel and documenta und Museum Fridericianum gGmbH have appointed the acclaimed sociologist Prof. Dr. Heinz Bude as Founding Director of the documenta Institute. Bude’s first tasks include formulating a concrete program and developing the internal and external organizational structures of the documenta Institute, which was founded by the four partners as an independent academic research institution.

Bude stands for a brand of science open to a diagnosis of our times gaining prominence with contributions on the issues of social division, regional desertification and global societal dislocation. In 2016, he was awarded the Prize of the German Sociological Association for outstanding achievements in the field of public impact of sociology. Since 2000 he has taught Macrosociology at the University of Kassel.

Follow the livestream on YouTube and Facebook.

Dr. Birgitta Coers takes over as Director of the documenta archiv on October 1, 2020.

Art historian Birgitta Coers (born 1970) will be heading up the documenta archiv from October 1, 2020. Following her university career in Marburg and Tübingen, she has specialized in recent years in the physical and digital management of artists’ estates. After an initial posting in the Art Department of the Saxon State and University Library Dresden, she was commissioned by the Saxon State Ministry for Science and the Arts to develop a data model for the early legacy of artistic objects and writings, and coordinated the development of the Margot Fürst / HAP Grieshaber Archive at the Rottweil Regional Council. Most recently, she worked as a scientific archivist at the State Archives of Baden-Württemberg, where she developed instruments for provenance research.

Coers’ academic focus is on the art of the 19th and 20th centuries, cultural and political networks between East and West after 1945 and exhibition and institutional history. Furthermore, web-based publication strategies and digital research infrastructures are of particular interest to her from a library and archival viewpoint.

Birgitta Coers replaces Nadine Oberste-Hetbleck, who will now not be taking up the post of director of the documenta archiv as planned on August 1, 2020. For family reasons, she has decided to remain in Cologne, where she will head up the Zentralarchiv für deutsche und internationale Kunstmarktforschung ZADIK (Central Archive for German and International Art Market Studies) at the University of Cologne, which she has been closely associated with for years.

Until Birgitta Coers takes up her post, the interim management of the documenta archiv will remain in the hands of Martin Groh, Head of the Scientific Department.

lumbung is the Indonesian word for a collectively governed rice-barn, where the gathered harvest is stored for the common good of the community. ruangrupa has built the foundation of documenta fifteen on its core values and ideas. lumbung, as a concept, is the starting point for documenta fifteen. Over the coming years, lumbung will be operational in the lead up to documenta fifteen in 2022, and beyond.

At www.documenta.de/en/documenta-fifteen, ruangrupa gives an insight into how they understand and implement lumbung in their curatorial practice. Also, the first lumbung members and the Artistic Team individually introduce themselves by sharing stories of their respective practices and how they connect to the wider project.

Dr. Nadine Oberste-Hetbleck will assume the post of Director of the documenta archiv as of August 1, 2020. She succeeds Dr. Birgit Jooss, who since summer 2016 has been in charge of the archive, only handed over from the custody of the City of Kassel to documenta und Museum Fridericianum gGmbH in early 2016. In her role, Oberste-Hetbleck will now also help shape the development of the documenta Institute, which will initially be under the umbrella of documenta und Museum Fridericianum gGmbH in cooperation with the German federal government, the State of Hesse, the City of Kassel and Kassel University.

Dr. Nadine Oberste-Hetbleck (born 1978) has held the Junior Professorship of “Art History and Art Market” in the Department of Art History at Cologne University since 2015. Furthermore, she was scientific head of the affiliated institute Zentralarchiv für deutsche und internationale Kunstmarktforschung ZADIK (Central Archive for German and International Art Market Research) until its transfer to the University of Cologne in 2020. As part of her previous research and activities, Oberste-Hetbleck is particularly concerned with historical and contemporary art market structures as well as contemporary exhibitions. She therefore brings relevant experience to the management of the documenta archiv and the further development of the archive into a research institute. In her teaching role in the Department of Art History, Dr. Nadine Oberste-Hetbleck was responsible for the master’s core module Art Market developing formats focusing on the mediation of archive topics. The documenta and its history were also a recurring focus.

Nadine Oberste-Hetbleck will take up her post on August 1, 2020. Until then, the interim management will remain with the head of the scientific department, Martin Groh.

Following the symposium “documenta. History / Art / Politics” (organized by the Deutsches Historisches Museum on October 15, 2019), a media debate is currently unfolding on Werner Haftmann’s (1912–1999) Nazi past. The art historian was a formative figure in Arnold Bode’s team during the first three editions of the World Art Exhibition. documenta was launched in 1955 to document the roots and role models of contemporary art, especially for a young audience (hence the name documenta), and thus to present to a broad public art that had been outlawed as degenerate modern art under National Socialism. Haftmann’s NSDAP membership now emerging raises questions about the extent to which documenta’s founding claim, often interpreted as a counter-draft to Nazi art policy, should be reassessed.

An examination of Haftmann’s biography was already undertaken on a scholarly level in the past. On the occasion of documenta’s 50th anniversary in 2005, the documenta archiv and external partners also took a critical look at the reception of the early documenta exhibitions with “archive in motion”. Furthermore, artistic directors and artists have repeatedly addressed the beginnings of documenta, most recently at documenta 14.

Commenting on this, Dr. Sabine Schormann, General Director of documenta und Museum Fridericianum gGmbH, said: “We welcome and support an independent, scholarly and critical examination of our own history, which also means that a younger generation of researchers takes a more objective look at the founding period. This is part of documenta’s identity. In this context, the documenta archiv, which is open to independent research at any time, and the planned documenta Institute play an important role.” Dr. Sabine Schormann continues: “On-going research into the history of documenta’s impact is a central task of the documenta Institute, jointly planned by the federal state, city and university.” For the exhibition scheduled at the Deutsches Historisches Museum in 2021 – among other things tracing documenta’s origins – the documenta archiv will ensure the accessibility of the archive materials and support the relevant scholars in their research. The survey exhibition “about: documenta” that opened in November 2019 at the Neue Galerie, on the other hand, aims to provide a broad overview of all documenta exhibitions while not claiming to go into any greater depth.

The Fridericianum presents the first exhibition of the work of American painter Forrest Bess in Germany for over thirty years.

Forrest Bess, born in 1911 in Bay City, Texas, where he also died in 1977, led a secluded existence in the first half of the 1940s on the Gulf of Mexico, where alongside catching and selling fishing bait he dedicated himself to painting. During this time, Bess began to systematically encapsulate in painting “visions” that appeared to him on the threshold between wakefulness and sleep. For Bess, subconscious human experiences manifested themselves in these abstract and highly symbolic images. He pursed their exploration like a piece of obsessive research that he articulated in countless records and intensive correspondence without ever unravelling the mystery of his creativity.

The show allows visitors to rediscover this outstanding exponent of postwar art, who is as relevant for contemporary discourse as he is enigmatic.

The exhibition is funded by the German Federal Cultural Foundation.

The documenta archiv has received as a gift the important legacy of thinker, art mediator, art critic, artist and professor Bazon Brock. Amongst other things, Bazon Brock founded the documenta “Besucherschulen” (Visitors’ Schools) thereby establishing the mediation of contemporary art as a critical independent practice with overarching cultural objectives.

The now presented comprehensive premature legacy is testimony to Bazon Brock’s decades of work at his cultural institution the “Denkerei” in Berlin and at his studio in Wuppertal. The legacy includes screen-prints, correspondence, slides, photos, teaching materials, image and sound material, publications, press clippings, art objects, digital data as well as 2,000 titles from his library with comments and notes permitting an insight into his modus operandi. For the documenta archiv, which belongs to documenta und Museum Fridericianum gGmbH, acquisition of this comprehensive collection means a valuable addition to its core inventory, also with regard to forthcoming documenta Institute. Together with the Arnold Bode legacy this addition will form the foundation to the curators’ center which is set to be further extended.

The gift will be accompanied by a generous donation from Dr. Hubert Burda. This commitment will allow for the collection to be indexed thereby paving the way for its public use and academic examination. Hubert Burda – celebrating his 80th birthday over the next few days – and Bazon Brock are linked by a decades-long friendship based, amongst other things, on shared ideas in the field of critical thinking and the productive culture of debate. Commenting on this Hubert Burda said: “One of my greatest achievements is perhaps that I have managed to bear with him over 50 years.” It was very important for Bazon Brock that his archive and parts of his collection were presented to the documenta archiv to be suitably prepared there as an “ordered premature legacy”: “It means a great deal to me to have found such an appropriate place for my life’s work that is accessible to the public.”

Christian Geselle, Lord Mayor of the City of Kassel and Supervisory Board Chairman of documenta und Museum Fridericianum gGmbH, is delighted with the gift: “This is a great addition for the documenta city of Kassel. Gaining such a key legacy for Kassel shows the huge potential the documenta archiv – only entrusted by the City to documenta und Museum Fridericianum gGmbH three years ago – in terms of the historiography of documenta and also the development of contemporary art and art mediation.”

The State of Hessen also welcomes the addition. Commenting on this Hessen’s State Minister of Higher Education, Research and the Arts Angela Dorn said: “documenta regularly puts Hessen into the international spotlight delighting all those who are interested in art. In addition to the major cultural significance it is also welcomed that the move includes citizens and makes documenta an experience for them. Bazon Brock has carried out significant work in the field of art mediation. I am delighted that he is leaving his important life’s work to the documenta archiv in memory of the world art exhibition. And likewise that as a state Hessen will continue to grow as a center of this art mediation.”

Dr. Sabine Schormann, General Director of documenta und Museum Fridericianum gGmbH, underlines the significance of this donation: “The breadth of Bazon Brock’s work, past and present, as a universal poet, teacher of aesthetics, author, speaker and creator of visitor and citizen schools is similarly reflected in the diversity, universality and rich contrasts of the legacy which we have now received as a gift for the documenta archiv. The fact that Hubert Burda has also decided to make such a generous donation for work on the legacy will pave the way to it being suitably indexed. We are deeply indebted to Bazon Brock and to him. The outgoing director of the documenta archiv, Dr. Birgit Jooss and her team, have also ensured that the legacy could be secured for Kassel through their many years of commitment and professional work.” The legacy will be presented in full upon completion of structural work on the documenta Institute, which is currently being established. The cataloguing work will begin before then.

Bazon Brock
Prof. Dr. Bazon Brock (born in 1936 as Jürgen Johannes Hermann Brock) studied German, Philosophy and Politics. He was a student of Adorno, lyricist, dramaturge, artist and Professor of Aesthetics and is considered an exponent of the Fluxus movement. He is the founder of the “Besucherschule” (Visitors’ School) that was held to accompany the documenta exhibitions 4, 5, 6 and 7 and which remained influential during documenta 8 and 9. In 1968 the concept advocated for a new kind of art mediation that promoted audience literacy at a visual level: the aim was to educate a qualified and informed art audience across the board. The concept also particularly became known by means of the “Audiovisual Foreword” of documenta 5.

documenta archiv
The documenta archiv is part of documenta und Museum Fridericianum gGmbH. It is home to the written, image and electronic documents arising in connection with documenta exhibitions. With its unique holdings of the archive of records and papers, media collection and the library the documenta archiv also forms the nucleus of the documenta Institute initially being founded under the auspices of documenta und Museum Fridericianum gGmbH in cooperation with the German federal government, the Land of Hessen, the City of Kassel and the University of Kassel. The institute will stimulate, conduct and further develop research related to documenta and make it publicly visible.

It is with great regret that we have learnt of the death of art historian and curator Manfred Schneckenburger. Born in Stuttgart Schneckenburger was Artistic Director of the sixth and eighth edition of documenta in Kassel in 1977 and 1987.

In his work he specifically placed contemporary art’s obligation to reflect socio-political developments at the forefront. Together with the founder of the World Art Exhibition Weltkunstausstellung Arnold Bode he is the only Artistic Director to have coordinated the major international exhibition more than once. Dr. Sabine Schormann, General Director at documenta und Museum Fridericianum gGmbH, on the death of Manfred Schneckenburger: “The team at documenta und Museum Fridericianum gGmbH mourns the Artistic Director of documenta 6 and documenta 8. Manfred Schneckenburger was an influential exhibition curator for whom the socio-political responsibility of art was an obligation.”

A cooperation project of the Museumslandschaft Hessen Kassel with the documenta und Museum Fridericianum gGmbH and the documenta archiv.

Opening: Thursday, 21. November 2019, 7 pm

Venue: Neue Galerie, Kassel

The Neue Galerie has always been closely linked to documenta: The new exhibition floor “about: documenta” on the upper level offers a tour of original documenta works of art and various documents to immerse visitors in the fascinating history of the internationally important exhibition series. The “Collective Memory” unfolds in various stages: Cabinet rooms provide background information on the respective documenta, a “Gallery of Memory” surprises visitors with media collages, and the “documenta lab” invites visitors to participate. In addition, ruangrupa, as the artistic direction of documenta 15, has designed the corresponding cabinet room.

More information at: www.documenta-archiv.de

Curators: Dorothee Gerkens, Martin Groh and Harald Kimpel

Rachel Rose’s first institutional solo exhibition in Germany.

In recent years, Rachel Rose has quickly risen to prominence for her compelling video installations and films. In her work, the artist often explores how our relationship to landscape, storytelling and belief systems around mortality are inseparably linked to one other. Through multiple subject matter — whether investigating the use of cryonics to extend life after death, narratives of abandonment in children’s literature, or the sensory experience of zero gravity in outer space — she questions what it is that makes us human and how we seek to alter and escape that designation.

For her first large scale solo exhibition in Germany, the artist, born 1986 in New York, will present a selection of her video installations and a new series of sculptures at the Fridericianum.

The Goethe-Institut and the documenta archiv in Kassel have launched a new fellowship program for international curators and researchers. During six month-long research stays in Kassel, starting in the spring of 2020 six fellows will be given the opportunity to explore their locally based research interests in conjunction with individual aspects of documenta’s history. Their results will then be presented in Germany and in their countries of origin.

In many international art contexts there is a desire to work up the local art history or histories and to explore their relationship to the global art scene. In Germany, by contrast, efforts are being made to revise the conventional art and culture canon of Western European provenance and open it to other perspectives.

In order to support these research efforts, the Goethe-Institut, in cooperation with the documenta archiv in Kassel, will offer a new fellowship program for international curators and researchers with experience and interest in archival work from spring 2020. In total, six fellowships will be awarded with six-month research stays in Kassel.

The aim of the Goethe-Institut Fellowship at the documenta archiv in Kassel is to investigate diverse international references to the documenta and to gain new insights into arising networks and interconnections in artistic production and curatorial practice. During their research, the fellows will be given extensive access to the documenta archiv in Kassel and will be looked after by experienced archivists. Cooperation with the documenta professorship (Prof. Dr. Nora Sternfeld) at the University of Kassel also makes it possible to connect the fellows to academic practice in Germany.

The research results will be presented until the beginning of documenta 2022 in Germany and via the network of the Goethe-Institut in the countries of origin of the fellows. This may take the form of a publication, a series of academic or public events or an exhibition.

Further information: www.goethe.de/kunst

The first Virtual Exhibition created by the documenta archiv explores the question in which way Bauhaus concepts have inscribed themselves in the documenta idea. It will be available from August 15, 2019 at www.documenta-bauhaus.de.

In an art-historical approach, the exhibition follows indications as to the extent to which the first four documenta exhibitions referred to the Bauhaus or were influenced by it. The most important actors, the institutions involved, the exhibited works, the understanding of art and the visual appearance of the documenta are examined. In addition to vivid illustrations, numerous impressive features, cross-references and background information will enrich the narratives.

Nine stories and fourteen close-ups by Verena Bornmann, Laura Diermann, Martin Groh, Birgit Jooss, Harald Kimpel, Andrea Linnenkohl and Anna Rühl illuminate the spectrum.

The Virtual Exhibition is part of the project "Bauhaus | documenta"

Curator: Birgit Jooss

Stories
Arnold Bode's first plan for documenta: art across national and genre borders

Bauhaus artists at the first documenta, 1955

b + d – A comparison of visual identity

Bauhaus artists at the second documenta, 1959

Experiences and principles of the Bauhaus for the New Kassel Werkakademie in the postwar period

Kassel in the 1920s - contacts to the Bauhaus

Applied art and design – the first three documenta exhibitions and their relation to Bauhaus ideas

Arnold Bode's contacts in Berlin in the early 1930s

Bauhaus artists at the third documenta, 1964

Close-ups
Werner Haftmann, the gray eminence of documenta

"A pantheon of superior men": Bauhaus artists in photo portraits

"Quintessence" of New Building: Bauhaus architectures in photo portraits

Fritz Winter - From Bauhaus to documenta

Hans Soeder and the reformation of the Kassel Art Academy

Arnold Bode as designer

The Rasch Wallpaper Factory - a cooperation project with the Bauhaus and Arnold Bode


The Städtische Werklehrer-Seminar in Berlin

The Kroll Opera in Berlin – connections to Kassel and Dessau

"Do German designers have to be furious?" – the case of Wagenfeld

Primary colors and shapes at the Bauhaus

Brian Jungen's "Dog Run" at documenta 13

The two-day symposium is part of the project "bauhaus | documenta" and realized together with the University of Kassel in cooperation with the Museumslandschaft Hessen Kassel. It deals with the implicit narratives of modernity of Bauhaus and the documenta exhibitions.

At first, the original constellation in Weimar and Kassel will be captured, then, the metamorphoses in passing through New Delhi, St. Lucia, Lagos (all documenta 11), Kabul (documenta 13) or Athens (documenta 14) will be explored. Where do the two interwoven narratives come from, which afflictions have they suffered, with which others have they connected, and which threads have emerged from them?

So first of all, it is a matter of putting two aesthetic concepts of modernity – and between them the totalitarian modernity of National Socialism - in relation to each other. Bauhaus is perceived as the project of a preceding and documenta as the project of a catching up modernity. The concept of modernity here refers to a modernity of world improvement that has always been related to a project based on the philosophy of history. Bauhaus is about creating an egalitarian and at the same time collectively binding world and the documenta exhibitions are about reconnecting with a modern concept of society characterized by functional differentiation and, at the same time, value generalization.

Then, the extension of the west-east constellation by the north-south constellation is to be realized. Which themes, which ways of thinking, which actors did it create? The social has been questioned by the spiritual, the economic by the genealogical, the political by the geological and the human by the animalistic, the material by the botanical and the global by the terrestrial.

The expanded constellation places the constellation of the beginning in a new and different light. What was the unthought, the unacknowledged, and the unshown at that time? And the question that runs through the whole symposium is, of course, whether the process that is now coming to our attention is to be understood as an evaporation, transposition or completion of the modern style.

The speakers are Beatrice von Bismarck, Alexander Garcia Düttmann, Thomas Flierl, Eckhart Gillen, Walter Grasskamp, Astrid Mania, Sophia Prinz, Cord Riechelmann, Winfried Speitkamp and Nina Tessa Zahner.

Further information are available on the documenta archiv website.

Venue: Kunsthochschule Kassel Concept: Heinz Bude, Professor for macrosociology, Universität Kassel Organisation: Michael Flörchinger

Lucas Arruda Deserto-Modelo Ron Nagle Euphoric Recall June 6 to September 8, 2019

The exhibitions Deserto-Modelo by Lucas Arruda and Euphoric Recall by Ron Nagle mark the beginning of the program put together by the new Fridericianum director Moritz Wesseler.

With Lucas Arruda and Ron Nagle, the Fridericianum is presenting two artists who represent very disparate aspects of current art production and who are at decidedly different phases in the development of their artistic/intellectual voices. Whereas the former’s chosen path is painting, he hails from South America and by the time he had reached his early 30s had already formulated a remarkably lucid oeuvre, one which is now starting to receive international attention, the latter is a sculptor, has his roots in North America and with a consistent oeuvre spanning six decades can be considered a master of his métier. What they have in common is a passionate and even obsessive devotion to their chosen themes and areas of work, which accounts for the singularity of the art they produce.

The presentation of the work of Arruda and Nagle will be followed, in October 2019, by a comprehensive show of the oeuvre of artist Rachel Rose, who was born in 1986 and works with time-based media and sculpture, and in February 2020 by an exhibition of the work of painter Forrest Bess, who died in 1977. It will be the largest European show on Bess’ work in over 30 years. As such, with his new program for the Fridericianum Moritz Wesseler is on the one hand focusing attention on those artists who have to date been denied a platform in Germany in the institutional context, and, on the other, offering everyone an opportunity to rediscover historical positions that were for a long time obscured, despite having great relevance for current discourse.

Lucas Arruda Deserto-Modelo Deserto-Modelo is the title of the Fridericianum’s presentation of the first larger-scale institutional solo show by the artist Lucas Arruda, who was born in São Paulo in 1983. Arruda’s work comprises paintings, prints, light installations, slide projections and films. It reflects his intensive, dedicated examination of a wide spectrum of subjects, ranging from the conceptual framework of the genre that is painting to the existential conditions of life itself. A particular feature of Arruda’s praxis is his portrayal of landscapes and seascapes, although his work never references specific locations. On the contrary, he is concerned with capturing those imaginary places evoked by thoughts of landscapes and seascapes, and with looking into the light conditions, atmospheres and emotions connected with them. However, many of his works are characterized by such a degree of abstraction that the reference to a landscape is only suggested by the horizon lines that are present to varying extents.

Independent of the degree of their legibility, his visual formulations give rise to a moment of deceleration and concentration, which, in these increasingly fast-paced times we live in, takes us by surprise and, with its insistent yet peaceful power, raises not least the question as to which rhythms life follows in this globalized world.

Ron Nagle Euphoric Recall For more than six decades now, Ron Nagle has been producing works characterized by the fact that they manifest a maximum height of 20 cm. Despite their limited heights, these works, made among other things of ceramics, plastics, glazing agents and car paint, boast a presence and an effect which could hardly be more impressive. This accounts for the unique status of Nagle’s work within the sculpture genre and results from his works’ interplay of unusual shapes, diverse colors and tactile surfaces. Accordingly, in his objects, shapes with an organic feel to them meet architectural elements, brightly gleaming colors are confronted with unobtrusive, restrained hues and rough, porous surfaces contrasted with high-gloss ones. His work is not only uncommonly fresh, soulful and sophisticated; it is also mysterious and sometimes surreal. Nagle moreover provides his work with additional levels of meaning by furnishing it with elaborate titles which are usually characterized by a great propensity for wordplay and humor.

Euphoric Recall at the Fridericianum is the first solo show in Germany by Nagle, who was born in San Francisco in 1939. An artist book is being published to mark the show, which is being realized in cooperation with the Vienna Secession.

The exhibition „Bauhaus | documenta. Vision and Brand“ reflects for the first time the Bauhaus and documenta in comparison. This year’s 100th anniversary of the Bauhaus provides an opportunity to look at the development of both institutions, which have become cultural brands, and to question them critically at the same time: Where do the brands remain true to themselves as a commitment to innovation and progress, where are they part of an interest-guided appropriation? In this way, the exhibition also offers an insight into the role and function that art and culture can play in a society today.

Based on installations, documentary objects, statistical material and some high-quality original artworks, the exhibition creates a parkour across seven thematic spaces, ranging from the emergence and initial visions of both cultural institutions to today's reception. Among the artists on display are Marianne Brandt, Marcel Breuer, Bazon Brock, Hans Haacke, Wassily Kandinsky, Barbara Klemm, Aleksandr Ptuschko and Gilles Raynaldy.

The exhibition is accompanied by a virtual exhibition under the title „How much Bauhaus is in documenta?“ A search for clues and a publication that brings together all project components and will be published by Spector Books in May. In addition, Heinz Bude is organizing a symposium under the title „Have we really never been modern? Bauhaus and documenta in true affinity“ taking place at the Kunsthochschule Kassel from 14-15 June 2019).

On the theoretical discourse Two cultural brands and their development. The conceptual reflections on the exhibition and its contents

Bauhaus and documenta are two globally successful cultural brands that stand for a cosmopolitan, innovative and modern Germany. Both were created against the backdrop of civil disruptions - both exemplify the idea of the emancipative power of art and culture, which enrich the lives of the individual, reflect social coexistence and promote social progress. While the Bauhaus wanted to confront the crisis of industrialization and the damage caused by the First World War through the design of things, spaces and buildings, documenta took up the romantic idea of dealing with visual art, through which people should once again become responsible citizens. While the Bauhaus wanted to "intervene" in the future of our public and private lives, as a result of as well as in addition to its artistic engagement with products, and quickly developed itself into a brand with many sub-brands, documenta had to repeatedly "work through" its significance as a brand until today. This at the interface to marketing and the demands of its own successful "profitability" - and protect its own autonomy. Although both were and are subject to a variety of changes in their different developments, their demands have remained and continue to shape the perception and self-image of both brands - in their motifs, strategies and successes.

A project of the documenta archiv and the University of Kassel in cooperation with Museumslandschaft Hessen Kassel

Project heads

Birgit Jooss, Philipp Oswalt

Curators of the exhibition

Philipp Oswalt, Daniel Tyradellis

Curator of the virtual exhibition

Birgit Jooss

Conception of the symposium

Heinz Bude

Press contact

documenta and Museum Fridericianum gGmbH

Johanna Köhler

T +49 561 70727-2520

presse@documenta.de

https://www.documenta-archiv.de/bauhaus-documenta

Dr. Sabine Schormann: "I am very sorry that I cannot be in Kassel today. It means a lot to me that this important documenta 14 art work is now permanently back in Kassel's centre. The fact that it was possible to rebuild it at the Treppenstrasse is due not least thanks to the citizens of Kassel, who have worked to preserve it. My sincere thanks go to them as well as to all those responsible and to the artist, Olu Oguibe. The city society is now invited to welcome the obelisk to its new location at a citizens' festivity. Treppe 4 invites everyone on Saturday 11 May 2019".

Dr. Sabine Schormann, Director General of documenta and Museum Fridericianum gGmbH on the death of Okwui Enwezor:  "The team at documenta are extremely saddened by the news of Okwui Enwezor’s passing. As Artistic Director of documenta 11 and a singular voice in contemporary curatorial discourse, he broadened perspectives on art on a global scale. His absence will be truly felt in the space his early death leaves behind.”

Nominated unanimously by the International Finding Committee the Supervisory Board appointed ruangrupa, a collective of artists and creatives from Jakarta, Indonesia, with a ten-member core as the artistic direction of documenta 15. This was announced by the general director of documenta und Museum Fridericianum gGmbH, Dr. Sabine Schormann, today.

For the eight-member Finding Committee, Elvira Dyangani Ose (director of The Showroom, London) and Philippe Pirotte (director of the Staatliche Hochschule für Bildende Künste – Städelschule, and director of Portikus, Frankfurt am Main) gave the following reasons for the unanimous decision: “We have appointed ruangrupa because they have demonstrated the ability to appeal to various groups, including groups that go beyond pure art audiences, and to promote local commitment and participation. Their curatorial approach is based on an international network of local community-based art organizations. We are eager to see how ruangrupa will develop a concrete project for and from Kassel. At a time when innovative strength particularly stems from independent organizations active on the community level, it seems only logical to offer this collective approach a platform with documenta.”

The Indonesian word ruangrupa loosely translates as “a space for art” or “a space form.” This field of tension is already apparent from the collective’s central curatorial approach. Farid Rakun and Ade Darmawan, who represented ruangrupa today in Kassel, formulated their decidedly participatory curatorial goals for the international art exhibition in 2022 as follows: “We want to create a globally oriented, cooperative, interdisciplinary art and culture platform that will have an impact beyond the 100 days of documenta 15. Our curatorial approach aims at a different community-oriented model of resource usage – economical, but also taking ideas, knowledge, programs and innovations into account. If documenta was launched in 1955 to heal war wounds, why shouldn’t we focus documenta 15 on today’s injuries, especially ones rooted in colonialism, capitalism, or patriarchal structures, and contrast them with partnership-based models that enable people to have a different view of the world.”

The collective was founded in 2000 in Jakarta, Indonesia. ruangrupa runs an art space in South Jakarta and realizes exhibitions, festivals, publications and radio formats. The collective has participated in many cooperation and exhibition projects, including the Gwangju Biennale (2002 und 2018), the Istanbul Biennale (2005), the Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art (Brisbane, 2012), the Singapore Biennale (2011), the São Paulo Biennale (2014), the Aichi Triennale (Nagoya, 2016) and Cosmopolis at Centre Pompidou (Paris, 2017). In 2016, ruangrupa curated TRANSaction: Sonsbeek 2016 in Arnhem, the Netherlands. In 2018, the participants founded GUDSKUL, an educational and networking project for creatives based on cooperative work. At documenta 14, ruangrupa participated with its internet radio station as a partner of the decentralized radio project Every Time a Ear di Soun, which brought together eight worldwide radio stations. ruangrupa is a nonprofit organisation. At least one member of the organisation will spend a lot of time in Kassel for the preparation of documenta 15. Director General of documenta und Museum Fridericianum gGmbH Sabine Schormann is looking forward to the cooperation and is eager to see how the participatory approaches will be implemented.

The Finding Committee for documenta 15 is composed of the following experts: Ute Meta Bauer, founding director, NTU Centre for Contemporary Art Singapore; Charles Esche, director of the Van Abbemuseum in Eindhoven, the Netherlands; Amar Kanwar, artist and filmmaker, New Delhi, India; Frances Morris, director of Tate Modern in London, Great Britain; Gabi Ngcobo, curator of the 10th Berlin Biennale 2018 in Germany (South Africa); Elvira Dyangani Ose, director of The Showroom London, England; Philippe Pirotte, director of the Staatliche Hochschule für Bildende Künste – Städelschule Frankfurt/M., Germany (Belgium); Jochen Volz, director of Pinacoteca do Estado de São Paulo, Brazil.

documenta und Museum Fridericianum gGmbH has appointed Moritz Wesseler as new director of Kassel’s Fridericianum as of November 1, 2018. The selection committee included: Krist Gruijthuijsen, director KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Berlin, Bettina Steinbrügge, director Hamburger Kunstverein, René Zechlin, director Wilhelm-Hack-Museum Ludwigshafen, and Dr. Sabine Schormann, designated general director, documenta und Museum Fridericianum gGmbH.

The 37-year-old art historian and curator Moritz Wesseler was previously director of Kölnischer Kunstverein where he realized exhibitions with artists of international renown including Pietro Roccasalva, Nathalie Djurberg & Hans Berg, Andra Ursuta, Annette Kelm, Darren Bader, Petrit Halilaj, João Maria Gusmão + Pedro Paiva, Ketuta Alexi-Meskhishvili, Stephen G. Rhodes, Uri Aran, Andro Wekua, Christiana Soulou, Avery Singer, Danny McDonald, Talia Chetrit, Adriano Costa, Cameron Jamie, Alex Da Corte, and Walter Price. Parallel to organizing these presentations, a special emphasis of his programming was placed on outreach and publicity with the goal of opening Kölnischer Kunstverein to a wider audience. Lectures, conversations, concerts, and performances were held at the institution on a regular basis, while the introduction of the so-called Vereinsgabe, an edition series free of cost to association members with contributions by artists such as Rosemarie Trockel, Lawrence Weiner, Kai Althoff, Isa Genzken and Luc Tuymans, led to a boom in new membership. Moritz Wesseler is the successor of Susanne Pfeffer, who in early 2018 took a position at Frankfurt’s Museum für Moderne Kunst.

Christian Geselle, Kassel’s lord mayor and chairman of the board of documenta und Museum Fridericianum gGmbH, welcomes the decision: “With Moritz Wesseler, we have been able to gain a promising young director who intends to continue the great tradition of Fridericianum as a location of encounter and exchange with contemporary art into the future and to network the institution with important players from the region and around the world.

”Boris Rhein, Hessen’s Minister for Science and the Arts and deputy chairman of the board, sees the new director of Fridericianum as a great opportunity to continue positioning the institution as a central location for contemporary art and to meet with an even greater audience response: “Moritz Wesseler has shown in Cologne that his demanding exhibitions found acceptance among a broad audience. We are convinced that he will continue to build bridges in Kassel.”

“Fridericianum is an outstanding exhibition institution and plays an important role for Kassel’s reputation in the world,” in the words of Moritz Wesseler. “I look forward to moving to the city of the documenta and continuing the wonderful tradition of my predecessors. My goal is to offer a platform for key players in the realm of contemporary art still largely unknown in Germany. In addition, I intend to strengthen the institution’s connection within the city and the local region.”

“I look forward to working with Moritz Wesseler,” says Dr. Sabine Schormann, designated general director of documenta und Museum Fridericianum gGmbH. “Our joint goal is to keep Fridericianum’s tradition as a vital location of contemporary art.”

On Moritz Wesseler

Moritz Wesseler, born in Bremerhaven in 1980, studied business and art history in Mainz and Paris. Even as a student, he began organizing exhibitions with artists such as Cathy Wilkes, Martin Boyce, Ceal Floyer, and Manfred Pernice. In addition, he edited artist’s books and catalogues on Gregor Schneider, Luc Tuymans, and Anri Sala, and began building up the archive of Bremerhaven’s Kabinett für aktuelle Kunst. After completing his studies, he took a position at Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen in Düsseldorf; later he was involved in organizing the exhibition series Double at Frankfurt’s Museum für Moderne Kunst and conceived the initiative Fürstenberg Zeitgenössisch in Donaueschingen and Heiligenberg, which features a fellowship and exhibition program. Besides working as a curator, he also publishes widely on twentieth century and contemporary art and participates in important juries on a national and international level. He has been serving as Hamburg’s Curator von Neue Kunst since September 2017.

On Fridericianum

Museum Fridericianum opened in 1779 as the world’s first museum intended for the public from the very beginning. Conceived in the spirit of the Enlightenment and designed by Huguenot architect Simon Louis du Ry, Fridericianum in the following years experienced a history marked by various disruptions but remained a venue of historical import.

Since 1988, Fridericianum has been a central location of contemporary art. Significant positions and artistic currents and socially relevant questions are taken up, presented, and negotiated. The institution presents solo shows by international artists that often involve spatially expansive installations. Retrospectives are also part of the program. Thematically speaking, positions by artists critical of society and the period are given pride of place. Screenings and performances, conferences and symposia round out the program, covering the spectrum of contemporary art and debate.

Preparations for documenta 15, which will take place in Kassel from 18 June to 25 September 2022, are progressing as planned. The Finding Committee for d 15 is in place. In accordance with the circular resolution recently presented to the members of the Supervisory Board of documenta und Museum Fridericianum gGmbH, the following experts have been appointed for the purpose of selecting the Artistic Director of documenta 15:

– Ute Meta Bauer, Founder and Director of the Centre for Contemporary Art in Singapore – Charles Esche, Director of the Van Abbemuseum in Eindhoven, Netherlands
– Amar Kanwar, artist, New Delhi, India
– Frances Morris, Director of the Tate Modern in London, Great Britain
– Gabi Ngcobo, Curator of the 10th Berlin Biennale 2018, South Africa
– Elvira Dyangani Ose, Curator, Creative Time, New York, USA
(Director of The Showroom in London, Great Britain, effective September 2018)
– Philippe Pirotte, Director of the Staatl. Hochschule für Bildende Künste – Städelschule in Frankfurt/M., Germany (Belgium)
– Jochen Volz, Director of the Pinacoteca do Estado de São Paulo, Brazil

The task facing the Finding Committee constituted on the basis of the recommendation by designated General Director Dr. Sabine Schormann is to appoint an Artistic Director for the 15th edition of documenta, which is regarded as the most important exhibition of contemporary art in the world.

Kassel’s Mayor Christian Geselle, Chairman of the Supervisory Board, expressed pleasure in noting that preparations for documenta 15 are now picking up speed. “documenta is an essential forum for contemporary art and, as the legacy of Arnold Bode, a treasure that enhances the image of the city of Kassel. I am very pleased to note that an international finding commission composed of outstanding experts has been chosen to find an artistic director for documenta 15. And we are right on schedule. I wish to express special thanks to Dr. Sabine Schormann, who has played an instrumental role in preparations for the appointment of members of the Finding Committee, even though she will not officially assume her duties as General Director of documenta und Museum Fridericianum gGmbH in Kassel until 1 November 2018.”

As Deputy Chairman of the Supervisory Board, Hessian Minister of Art and Culture Boris Rhein also expressed thanks to Dr. Sabine Schormann for having made such an important contribution to the process of forming the Finding Commission before taking office as General Director. “We are proud to realize that documenta in Kassel has gained global recognition as one of the most significant and best-known international exhibitions of contemporary art in the world. For the city of Kassel and the state of Hesse, this high honor goes hand in hand with the obligation to ensure that such an ambitious exhibition can be successful in the future as well and that the artistic director chosen by the Finding Commission is equipped with the means to achieve that goal. However, that objective represents both a duty and an incentive for the future artistic director as well. documenta is ideally suited for the purpose of learning from history and thus enabling us to look with courage to the future.”

“In view of the members’ expertise, their extensive network of ties within the cosmos of contemporary art and their different artistic and curatorial approaches, I am confident that the Finding Commission will succeed in appointing an outstanding curator to the position of Artistic Director by early next year,” said Dr. Sabine Schormann. “Personally, I am very eager to see where the journey takes us and whether documenta 15 will be more concerned with such issues as sharing and participation, intercultural networking, performance and discourse, the role of digital media or our approach to the use of public space – to name only a few conceivable focal points of interest.”

Brief biographies of the members of the Finding Commission:

Ute Meta Bauer (*Stuttgart, 1958)
Ute Meta Bauer has served as an international curator and professor of contemporary art and as the founding Director of the Centre for Contemporary Art (CCA) in Singapore since 2013. She studied at the Hochschule für Bildende Künste in Hamburg. She was Artistic Director of the Künstlerhaus Stuttgart from 1990 to 1994. Ute Meta Bauer has worked as an independent curator since 1985 and held several different adjunct academic positions: as Associate Professor for Visual Arts at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) from 2005 to 2012, as Dean of Fine Arts at the Royal College of Art in London in 2012 and 2013 and as Professor of Theory and Practice in Contemporary Art at the Akademie der Bildenden Künste in Vienna. She served as founding Director of the Office for Contemporary Art in Norway from 2002 to 2005, Artistic Director of the 3rd Berlin Biennale for Contemporary Art in 2004, Director of the MIT Visual Arts Program from 2005 to 2009 and founding Director of the Program for Art, Culture and Technology (ACT) from 2009-2012. She has worked as co-curator for several different exhibition events, including the World Biennial Forum No. 1 in Gwangju, South Korea in 2012 and documenta 11. Ute Meta Bauer chairs the Beirat für Bildende Kunst of the Goethe–Institutes and is a member of the scholarly Advisory Board of the Stiftung Bauhaus in Dessau, Germany.

Charles Esche (*England, 1963)
Charles Esche is a museum director and art curator who lives in Edinburgh and Eindhoven. Esche has served as Director of the Van Abbemuseum in Eindhoven, Netherlands, since 2004. From 2000 to 2004 he was Director of the Rooseum Center for Contemporary Art in Malmö, Sweden. He worked for Tramway in Glasgow (from 1993 to 1997) and has helped launch an art education program called the Proto-academy at the Edinburgh College of Art in 1997.
In 2012, Esche joined six other European museums to found L'Internationale confederation as a European institution devoted to modern and contemporary art. He has curated numerous international biennials. Charles Esche is a professor of Curating and Contemporary Art at the University of the Arts in London and Co-Editorial Director of the Afterall Journal and Afterall Books (with Mark Lewis).

Amar Kanwar (*New Delhi, 1964)
Amar Kanwar is an Indian artist and documentary filmmaker who lives and works in New Delhi. Kanwar is concerned with the recent and past history of the Indian subcontinent and especially with the Indo-Pakistani wars. He has produced more than 40 video installations and films, which have been presented at various exhibitions and at a number of international museums, including the Biennale of Sydney in 2006, documenta exhibitions 11, 12, 13 and 14, kw-Berlin, the Contemporary Museum in Baltimore, the Stedelijik Museum in Amsterdam and the Haus der Kunst in Munich. Kanwar has received awards at the film festivals in San Francisco, Mumbai and Turin and was honored with the Award for Contemporary Art by a foundation established by the Norwegian Ministry of Culture in 2005.

Frances Morris (*London, 1959)
Frances Morris has played a key role in the development of the Tate Galleries. Engaged as a curator in 1987, she was appointed Head of Displays at the Tate Modern in 2000 and has served as Director of Collection, International Art (from 2006 to 2016) and Director of the Tate Modern since 2016. Morris has curated several pioneering exhibitions, including most notably major retrospectives devoted to women artists, several of which were presented as broad-based international cooperative projects. Morris holds a BA in Art History from Cambridge University and an MA in Art History from the Courtauld Institute of Art in London. She is a member of the boards of the Fruitmarket Gallery in Edinburgh and CIMAM as well as the Advisory Committee of the Serralves Museum of Contemporary Art in Porto.

Gabi Ngcobo (*South Africa, 1974)
Gabi Ngcobo is an artist, independent curator and art educator who lives in Johannesburg. She studied at the Center for Curatorial Studies at Bard College in New York and has been a member of the faculty of the Wits University School of Arts in Johannesburg since 2011. Ngcobo founded the Center for Historical Reenactments in Johannesburg in 2010 and is now serving as its director. She curated the 10th Berlin Biennale for Contemporary Art in 2018.

Elvira Dyangani Ose (*Spain, 1964)
Elvira Dyangi Ose has been a curator at Creative Time in New York since 2017. She will assume her duties as Director of the Schowroom in London in September 2018. Ose studied Art History at the Universitat Autónoma de Barcelona and Architectural Theory at the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya. She earned a Ph.D. in Art History and Visual Studies at Cornell University in New York. Elvira Dyangasi Ose worked as a curator at the Centro Atlántico de Arte Moderno (CAAM) on Gran Canaria from 2004 to 2006 and at the CENTRO ANDALUZ DE ARTE CONTEMPORANEO (Andalusian Center for Contemporary Art) from 2006 to 2008. In 2009 and 2010 she served as curator for the Arte Invisible Program of ARCOmadrid. Between 2011 and 2014 she worked as a curator of international art at the Tate Modern in London, where she was responsible for developing the art collections from Africa and the African diaspora. Since 2014 she teaches Visual Studies at Goldsmiths University of London and in 2015 she curated the eighth International Biennial for Contemporary Art (GIBCA) in Göteborg.

Philippe Pirotte (*Antwerp, Belgium, 1972)
Philippe Pirotte lives and works in Frankfurt as Dean of the Städelschule and Director of Kunsthalle Portikus
Next to that he is adjunct senior curator at the University of California Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive. He serves as an advisor for the Kadist Art Foundation (Paris/San Francisco).Pirotte was one of the co-founders (in 1999) of the contemporary art center Objectif_Exhibitions in Antwerp, Belgium, and was the organization’s artistic director till 2005. From 2004 to 2013, Pirotte held the position of Senior Advisor at the Rijksakademie for Visual Arts in Amsterdam. From 2005 to 2011, he was Director of the Kunsthalle Bern in Switzerland. As a freelance curator Pirotte co-curated and organized a.o. exhibitions for the Museum für Moderne Kunst in Frankfurt (2014); for the Belgian Pavilion at the Venice Biennale (2001); the Weltkulturenmuseum Frankfurt (2015), for TOP contemporary Art Space Shanghai; for the Shanghai Biennale; the Contemporary Image Collective in Cairo or the Fundación Celarg in Caracas, Venezuela. He also served as Advising Program Director for the Sifang Art Museum in Nanjing. He was curator of the 2016 edition of La Biennale de Montréal, and he was part of the curatorial team of the 2017 Jakarta Biennale. Philippe Pirotte has written numerous essays about contemporary art and artists.

Jochen Volz (*Braunschweig, 1971)
Jochen Volz is an art historian and exhibition curator. He was appointed Director of the Pinacoteca do Estado de São Paulo, Brazil, in 2017. Volz studied Art History, Communication and Education at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität in Munich and Humboldt-Universität in Berlin from 1993 to 1999. Jochen Volz served as a curator at the Portikus Ausstellungshalle in Frankfurt am Main from 2001 to 2004, as Head of Programmes at the Serpentine Galleries in London from 2012 to 2015 and as Curator of the 32nd Biennale do São Paulo in 2016. He curated the Brazilian Pavilion at the 57th Biennale di Venezia in 2017

More information available here

Video of the presentation of Dr. Sabine Schormann as future director general of documenta und Museum Fridericianum gGmbH

After months of tension, the documenta and Museum Fridericianum gGmbH has kicked off to a promising future: Dr Sabine Schormann, currently responsible for two major arts trusts in northern Germany, will take up the key management position of general director. The contracts were signed yesterday (Tuesday) evening.

As Kassel’s mayor and supervisory board chairman of the documenta, Christian Geselle, emphasized that with Dr Schormann a competent personality has been found to give the documenta a solid basis and a new approach. “It is time to look forward. On the 18th of June 2022 the documenta 15 will open in Kassel. It has always been my intention that the people of Kassel and the world can look at our future world art exhibitions positively and enthusiastically with great anticipation,“ said Geselle.

With Wolfgang Orthmayr’s interim occupancy of the management, the current business has been secured. He will manage the business in close co-operation with Dr Sabine Schormann until her move to Kassel this autumn. The search for a new director was supported by a world-leading human resources agency.

“I am really delighted to have found Dr Schormann, a leading person with international expertise in art and culture management,” said mayor Geselle with reference to her professional qualification. She takes over the leadership of the documenta and Museum Fridericianum gGmbH after 18 years’ experience in her double function as director of the Lower-Saxony Sparkasse trust and the VGH trust in Hanover. Dr Schormann developed and shaped both trusts to their current significance. With a yearly budget of about 5 million euro the two trusts strengthen the cultural offering of Lower-Saxony, especially in the areas of visual arts, museums, music, literature, preservation of monuments and historical knowledge.

Sabine Schormann established the “National Day of Open Monuments” for the German trust for the protection of monuments. From 1996 to 2000 she managed the “Planet of Visions” and “The 21st Century” in the EXPO 2000 world exhibition theme park in Hanover.

The further development of the world’s most important art exhibition will profit from Dr Schormann’s professional competences, especially in the areas of art and museums, her innovative approach, her expertise managing complex institutions and major events, as well as her extensive experience in dealing with high quality art.

“I understand my role as ‘facilitator’. That means that with the documenta, I would like to strengthen art further with the biggest possible display and public perception, without involving myself artistically,” said Dr Schormann. In this respect she has the full support and confidence of the partners Kassel City and Hessen. Mayor Geselle: “Now we have the opportunity to bring documenta up to date and strengthen it lastingly”.

“I am pleased that we could attract Dr Sabine Schormann, a proven culture expert for this central position. This decision is an important further component with which we ensure that the documenta 15 will take place in 2022 as planned and will continue to be the first address for art friends from the whole world and will also stand on a solid foundation in future,“ said Hessen’s Minister for Science and Art and deputy supervisory board chairperson Boris Rhein. “The documenta is a great stroke of luck and treasure that we must protect for Hessen’s culture”.

One of Sabine Schormanns first tasks will be to initiate and accompany the search for an artistic director for the documenta 15 and for the Fridercianum art gallery. As director of the trust, i.a. responsible for the Lower-Saxony Music Days and the Literature Festival, she is convinced of the close exchange between the general management and the curatorial management: “I am aware of the expectation and the great responsibility and look forward to this challenging task.”

Dr Schormann will also support the documenta Institute's development process actively. In addition to these responsibilities, Dr Schormann would like to set the tone in Kassel in other respects – including and especially between the exhibition years – so as to highlight the local function and fixed positioning of the documenta, which is recognized as a platform for global artistic exchange.

Since 1 April 2018, the interim management of documenta and Museum Fridericianum gGmbH is under the responsibility of Wolfgang Orthmayr. “We are very happy that it was possible for us to attract Wolfgang Orthmayr for this position” says Christian Geselle, chairman of the board of documenta and Museum Fridericianum gGmbH. Orthmayr (58) originally from Hamburg has worked as Commercial Director at Stage Entertainment GmbH until December 2017. Before he worked as managing partner of M.A.D. Kommunikationsgesellschaft mbH and in the music industry, for Sony Music Entertainment and WOM World of Music. Without this interim solution the management position would have been vacant at times. The city of Kassel and the state Hesse are eager to fill the managing position long-term with a person of relevant experience and competence in the cultural management.

„An exhibition guide, catalogue, companion volume, reader for documenta 14? None of those. This Daybook stands as a hybrid, which admittedly documents the previous Documenta exhibition, but also asserts the timeless validity of art […]

You could say that idea, leitmotif and design are synonyms in the case of this book. The conventional order of book production is so condensed here that it is hardly possible to talk about the design alone”, is what Rolf Wöhrle writes on the website of Stiftung Buchkunst about the Daybook that originated in the context of documenta 14 and which was selected for this year's "Best Book design from all over the World" awards for Switzerland and was designed by Julia Born and Laurenz Brunner.

The international book design competition, which has been taking place every year in Leipzig since 1963, is considered to be unique in the world. An international jury of designers evaluated over 600 submissions from 33 countries in the German National Library in Leipzig. The award ceremony will take place within the framework of the Leipzig Book Fair.

The documenta 14: Daybook emphasizes the 163 calendar days of the exhibition in Athens and Kassel in 2017—a first-time extension of the usual 100-day documenta project—and the personal and subjective nature of the spectator’s relationship to them. Each documenta 14 artist is granted a day in the Daybook, which includes a newly commissioned text as well as images selected by the artist specifically for the publication. The texts are authored by a wide variety of writers—critics, curators, poets, novelists, and historians—and are close readings of the artists’ practices in an array of literary forms: criticism, letters, poems, and parables. The Daybook is accompanied by two map booklets, for Athens and Kassel respectively, that are available in the exhibition and can be inserted into the Daybook’s dust jacket, thereby completing the book.

Quinn Latimer und Adam Szymczyk
documenta 14: Daybook
Separate English, German and Greek editions
Design: Julia Born & Laurenz Brunner, Zürich
Publisher: Prestel, München
ISBN: 978-3-7913-5654-9

http://www.stiftung-buchkunst.de/en/best-book-design-from-all-over-the-world.html

“I was a stranger and you took me in”, a quote from the Gospel of St. Matthew, is written in gold letters in the languages German, English, Turkish and Arabic on the 16.20 metre high obelisk on Königsplatz as a humanist message. The obelisk is a work by Olu Oguibe, who keeps dealing with flight and migration in different ways in his art and created the obelisk for documenta 14 in Kassel.

Many of the citizens have expressed a wish for the obelisk to stay in Kassel. The city of Kassel has taken this as an opportunity to work with the artist Olu Oguibe to prepare a fundraising campaign for the acquisition of the work as a permanent outdoor artwork for Kassel and for its preservation. This would mean that the work would be part of a series of sixteen installations which have represented past documenta exhibitions within the city of Kassel since 1977.

The new thing about this case is the joint appeal for donations by the city of Kassel and the artist to raise the total purchase amount of 600,000 euros. Citizens are invited to participate in the preservation of the obelisk in Kassel with their donations and thus to make it possible for the obelisk to remain in Kassel.

An enhancement for the cultural heritage of the documenta city
With regard to the issues realised in the obelisk artwork, Olu Oguibe explained: “The Obelisk was specially made for Kassel and for the public square where it stands. It is not based on politics but rather on the history of the city as a welcoming place, and on the simple human values that we all aspire to. Hospitality and gratitude are not political issues. The obelisk is also a unique work of art that further enriches the cultural legacy of the documenta city and the daily social interactions of citizens. It’s unlike any other work that has come to Kassel in the recent past.”

And concerning the reactions to his work, he remarked: “I’m honored that it has touched many people on a deep, human level. I’m also very happy that the majority have expressed a strong wish for it to stay. I obviously share that wish. Since the end of documenta, other towns and cities have expressed a desire to acquire the obelisk, including neighboring towns in the region, but I’ve always insisted that the obelisk was made for the people of Kassel and Königsplatz. Now, we need to pool resources together, and I encourage everyone to do their utmost best, and help us do whatever can be done to keep the obelisk in Kassel.”

An artwork which is representative of documenta 14
The Head of Kassel’s Department of Culture, Susanne Völker, commends the artwork and its effect in Kassel: “Every documenta leaves its mark in the minds of the people and on the cityscape of Kassel. documenta 14 was characterised by a political curatorial concept which consciously focussed on contemporary global issues. In view of this, the obelisk by the New York artist Olu Oguibe was the work from d14 to be awarded the Arnold Bode Prize. The work deals with the themes of flight and exile and, with its humanist message ‘I was a stranger and you took me in’, relates to the population of the city of Kassel, the guests and new arrivals to our city in an exciting way. It is deliberately not a centrally positioned symbol of power, but is instead a symbol and a location in the midst of busy activity.”

Commitment and support from the population is necessary for the purchase
At the same time, she pointed out that a purchasing committee employed by the city of Kassel proposes the purchase of representative artworks for the city’s collection after every document, but not outdoor artworks. Even in the past, the purchase of these works was only possible with the commitment and support of the population and businesses of Kassel. “Many people have campaigned on behalf of the obelisk. Olu Oguibe’s obelisk is a prize-winning artwork which is representative of documenta 14. It is received a lot of individual praise and attention, as well as political controversy. In many respects, this justifies the efforts to keep the obelisk in Kassel.”

If the fundraising target is not achieved
As the Head of the Department of Culture Völker explained, the agreement with Olu Oguibe also allows for the possibility that the fundraising target will not be achieved. In this case, it will be up to the artist whether he would like to accept the sum which has been achieved after a period of three months. “If he does not accept this price and the obelisk is not purchased, all the donors will get their money back. Thus, Olu Oguibe consciously faces up to a transparent civic decision regarding the purchase of his artwork,” says Head of the Department of Culture Völker.

Donations account has been set up

The donations can be transferred to the following account:
Kassel documenta Stadt
IBAN: DE16 5205 0353 0000 0110 99
BIC: HELADEF1KAS

As this fundraising campaign has the intention of returning the donations in the event that the obelisk is not purchased, we request the following information: purpose of donation: Obelisk plus the name of the donor or the company and the precise address.

Press and PR

presse@kassel.de
Tel 0049 (0)561 787 1231
Fax 0049 (0)561 787 87
Rathaus, 34112 Kassel
www.stadt-kassel.de


Press officer: Claas Michaelis
Press officer for culture: Petra Bohnenkamp

documenta is known as the worldwide largest and most important exhibition for contemporary art. It has advanced to a seismograph of the art scene.

From 10. June until 17. September 2017 the 14th edition of document took place in Kassel. In Athens the exhibition was shown from 08. April until 16.07.2018. Well over one million visitors saw the exhibition in both cities during its runtime of 163 days, which makes documenta 14 the most frequented contemporary art exhibition of all times. During the one hundred days of documenta 14 in Kassel we welcomed 891,500 people. In Athens, documenta 14 was visited over 339,000 times, making documenta 14 the most visited multi-venue contemporary art exhibition in Greece’s history.

With documenta, the city of Kassel and the state of Hessen, but also Germany, owns a striking and extraordinarily successful brand, which stimulates a reflective and controversial discourse on the tasks and the role of contemporary art, necessary reorientations, and potential changes of perspective. It communicates a positive image of creativity, open-mindedness, and innovation for the city and country, conveying prestige and media orientation. documenta has a unique position worldwide. The international response to documenta 14 has confirmed this and triggered important impulses for cultural and urban tourism. The proportion of international visitors has continued to rise. 95% of respondents come to Kassel only because of documenta and contribute to the recognition of city and state.

The University of Kassel / Hochschule Fulda under the direction of Prof. Dr. Gerd-Michael Hellstern and Prof. Dr. Joanna Ożga has again compiled these representative outcomes in an evaluation for documenta 14, which you can find following.

In the meeting of the und Museum Fridericianum gGmbH supervisory board on November 15, 2017 the date for documenta 15 was set: The next edition of the exhibition in Kassel will take place from June 18 until September 25, 2022.

Today, June 10, 2017, the documenta 14 exhibition opens in Kassel. Over 160 international artists present works conceived for documenta 14 at more than thirty different sites, public institutions, squares, cinemas, and university locations. The exhibition locations are open daily from 10 am–8 pm. Tickets for the exhibition can be purchased in the documenta webshop as well as in the on-site shop at Friedrichplatz, the documenta Halle, the Neue Galerie, and the Neue Neue Galerie (Neue Hauptpost). Additional ticket information is available here.

Orientation at documenta 14
Artistic director Adam Szymczyk proposes that visitors follow a parcour of the venues of documenta14 in Kassel. It begins at the former underground train station (KulturBahnhof) and extends through the Nordstadt district across Friedrichsplatz in a southerly direction to the Torwache, the unfinished city gate. The parcour route, as well as information about the exhibition venues, can be found here. The info map, with all of the documenta 14 exhibition locations in Kassel, can be downloaded here. The two main documenta 14 publications are the documenta 14: Daybook and The documenta 14 Reader. The documenta 14 Reader, is a critical anthology exploring issues of economy, language, and the coloniality of power, while the documenta 14: Daybook, is devoted to the artists participating in documenta 14. The Daybook is supplemented by two brochures (map booklets)–one each for Athens and Kassel–which can be purchased everywhere the publications are available for sale. The brochures can be stored in the cover of the Daybook, thereby completing the book. They provide general information about the exhibition locations and a list of the exhibited works. Further information about documenta 14 as well as the daily program of events can be obtained from the Press and Information Center at Friedrichsplatz 4, 34117, Kassel and at Mourouzi Street 16, 10674, Athens, as well as in the biweekly documenta 14 Public Paper, which is available for free at all exhibition venues. The complete documenta 14 program of events can be found on the calendar.

Book Donations for The Parthenon of Books
The Parthenon of Books is an artwork in progress based on public participation. Thousands of books have already been donated for the installation currently being constructed on Kassel’s Friedrichsplatz, which is modelled after the eponymous temple on the Acropolis of Athens. During the exhibition, books can also be donated on the spot, to shape the Parthenon with formerly or currently forbidden books from around the world.

We cordially invite you to bring a book with you to the exhibition and thus become a part of the work.

Visitor Survey
While documenta 14 opens in Kassel today, the exhibition has been on open in Athens since April 8. In Athens, documenta 14 has already reached a total of 244,000 visits to the various exhibition locations, works in public space, and numerous events and performances taking place across the city. The number of visits is counted at the entrance to each documenta 14 venue, work in public space, and event. documenta 14 has carried out visitor surveys during the first nine weeks: 43 percent of the exhibition visitors are Greek and are visiting from Athens, Thessaloniki, Patras, Volos, and other parts of Greece; a quarter of the visitors come from Germany; and the other visitors travel from places around the world (over 56 different countries), in order to visit the various locations, participate in events, listen to concerts, and experience the many aspects of the documenta 14 program in Athens. According to the survey, this is the first visit to documenta for many of the Greek and international visitors. The visitor survey is conducted by the University of Kassel in cooperation with the University of Athens.

The Parliament of Bodies, the Public Programs of documenta 14, emerged from the experience of the so-called “long summer of migration” in Europe, revealing the simultaneous failure not only of modern representative democratic institutions but also of ethical practices of hospitality. The Parliament was in ruins. The real Parliament was on the streets, constituted by unrepresented and undocumented bodies resisting austerity measures and xenophobic policies.

The planet is going through a process of "counter-reform" that seeks to reinstall white-masculine supremacy and to undo the democratic achievements that the workers’ movements, the anti-colonial, indigenous, ecologist, feminist, sexual liberation, and anti-psychiatric movements have struggled to grant during the last two centuries. In this context, The Parliament of Bodies becomes a site of activism, alliance, and cooperation.

After eight months of activity in Athens, The Parliament of Bodies is gathering for the first time in Kassel calling for an anti-fascist, trans-feminist, and anti-racist coalition. The Parliament of Bodies takes W. E. B. Du Bois’s question “How does it feel to be a problem?” as a possible interpellation directed today at the "99 percent” of the planet, taking into consideration the process that African philosopher Achille Mbembé has called “becoming black of the world.” Whereas the modern colonial and patriarchal regime invented the “worker,” the “domestic woman,” the “black,” the “indigenous,” and the “homosexual,” today new government technologies are inventing new forms of subjection: from the criminalized Muslim to the undocumented migrant, from the precarious worker to the homeless, from the disabled to the sick as consumers of the industries of normalization to the sexualized worker, and the undocumented transsexual.

This performative gathering establishes no hierarchies between radically different knowledge, languages, and practices, between activism and performance, between theory and poetry, between art and politics: collectively, we experiment with the construction of a public space of visibility and enunciation. This is a gathering of those who have become a “problem” for today’s hegemonic discourse: we don’t share identities, we are bound by different forms of oppression, of displacement and dispossession more than by our skin color, our sex, gender, or sexuality. The Parliament of Bodies is not made of identities but of critical processes of disidentification.
(Paul B. Preciado)

PROGRAM

Thursday April 27, 2017

FRIDERICIANUM

3 pm Introduction by Adam Szymczyk and Paul B. Preciado
3:15 pm Boris Buden, Fascism: A Crime in Search of Perpetrators
4 pm iQhiya, Fresh off the Boat
4:45 pm Ulrich Schneider, Facing History and Ourselves: Preserving Memory—Acting Today—Change for the Future
5:30 pm Chto Delat, Here Me Burning
6 pm Evelyn Taocheng Wang, Idle Chatter 2nd – Holzwege

7 pm BREAK

8 pm Dimitris Kousouris, Old and New Fascisms and Antifascisms
8:45 pm Lerato Shadi, Dinonyane tse Pedi
9:15 pm The Apatride Society of the Political Others (Max Jorge Hinderer Cruz, Nelli Kambouri, Margarita Tsomou), Integrated World Capitalism and the Ithagenia Condition: On Indigenous Knowledge in the European Crisis, Migration and Borders, the Coloniality of Contemporary Capitalism, and Self-Determined Otherness
10 pm Zoe Mavroudi, The Witch Hunts of Athens: An Experiment for a New Europe
10:45 pm Raúl de Nieves, La Mosca/The Fly

11:15 pm BREAK

12:30 am Adespotes Skiles, The Waltz of the Dirty Streets
1:30 am LOTIC

(Mattin, Unscheduled Interventions)

Friday April 28, 2017

FRIDERICIANUM

10 am–3 pm Georgia Sagri, Attempt. Come
3 pm Franco “Bifo” Berardi, Questions about the Double-Headed Monster That Is Destroying Life on the Planet, and How to Deal with It
3:45 pm Grada Kilomba, Illusions
4:15 pm Tatiana Roque, Back to the Closet! A Backlash Against Emerging Political Subjectivities
5 pm Zülfukar Çetin, Bodily Autonomy of Refuged Sex Workers and the Moralization of the Sex of the Other
5:45 pm María Galindo, Manifesto and How to Deal with the Feminist Insurrection

7 pm BREAK

8 pm–10:30 pm ALLIANCES BETWEEN MINOR INSTITUTIONS
Stavros Stavrides, Emergent Common Spaces: Reinventing the Politics of Sharing
Anna Dević/WHW, From Partisan Exhibitions to Exhibitions of Partisanship
Gigi Argyropoulou, (Im)potential Resistances
Emanuele Braga, Beyond Work and Private Property, the Macao Experience as an Institution of the Commons
Maria Mitsopoulou and Mariza Avgeri, Clercking
Vasyl Cherepanyn, Thinking Under Attack: On the International Principles of Contemporary Antifascism
Olga Lafazani, Subverting the Borders Between Host and Hosted. The Everyday Life in City Plaza Project
Chto Delat (Dmitry Vilensky), To be a Dissident: Screening and Questioning

10:30 pm BREAK

11:30 pm Vaginal Davis, No One Leaves Delila
12:15 am Boris Baltschun and Serge Baghdassarians, Backing Track
12:45 am The Boy

(Mattin, Unscheduled Interventions)

Saturday April 29, 2017

FRIDERICIANUM

12 pm Film screening, Aris Chatzistefanou, Fascism Inc, 2015, Greece, 73 min.
Directed by Aris Chatzistefanou, Greek with English/German subtitles

4 pm–6:30 pm ALLIANCES BETWEEN ANTIFASCIST MOVEMENTS FROM ATHENS AND KASSEL
Aris Chatzistefanou
Ayşe Güleç
Dimitris Kousouris
Thanassis Kampagiannis
Kassel postcolonial (Joshua Kwesi Aikins and Evelyn Wangui)
Forensic Architecture (Stefanos Lividis)
Magda Fyssa
Yannis Nifakos
The Society of Friends of Halit and The Initiative of 6th of April (Lilimor Kuht, Serdar Kazak, and Fritz Laszlo Weber)
Eleftheria Tompatzoglou
Natascha Sadr Haghighian
Niovi Zarampouka-Chatzimanou

7 pm BREAK

8 pm Bonaventure Soh Bejeng Ndikung, An Alignment of Contested Bodies and Spaces: On Alterity, Asynchrony, and Heterogeneity
8:45 pm Alfredo Jaar, It Is difficult
9:45 pm Cecilia Vicuña, Breaking the Heart of Creation
10:30 pm Schwabinggrad Ballett & Arrivati, Beyond Welcome

(Mattin, Unscheduled Interventions)

Prof. Dr. Nora Sternfeld will be the new documenta Professor at the Kassel School of Art and Design, a part of the University of Kassel. The Austrian native is currently a professor at the Aalto University in Helsinki, Finland. The University of Kassel has thus selected a figure with a strong reputation in the international art world for this position in good time prior to the beginning of documenta 14 in Kassel. In addition to other activities, Sternfeld will also work on the development of a planned documenta Institute.

Sternfeld (41) received a doctorate in art and cultural studies at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna in 2012. In the same year she started in a professorship for Curating and Mediating Art at the Aalto University. Prior to that she had had various teaching appointments, including one at the Kassel School of Art and Design in 2009. Her research focuses on the theory and practice of art exhibition, critical museum research, art education and educational theory as well as curatorial and artistic research.

"I see one of the most important aims of my research work as positioning Kassel as an internationally relevant location for exhibition theory and practice, also in the periods between the exhibitions which occur here every five years," Sternfeld remarked. In addition to her research and teaching activities, she will be involved in the conception of a documenta Institute, which should include the existing documenta Archive. The University is working closely together with the city of Kassel and the documenta GmbH in this regard.

"I am very pleased that we have been able to gain Ms. Sternfeld for this professorship, which has great significance for the national and international visibility of the University of Kassel," said University President Prof. Dr. Reiner Finkeldey. "This is also underlined by the fact that there was a very strong pool of applicants for the position. I am sure that Ms. Sternfeld will contribute to the regional as well as the international networking of the University of Kassel and of the School of Art and Design. This increases the visibility of the city, the University and the documenta in equal measure."

Prof. Joel Baumann, Rector of the Kassel School of Art and Design, commented on the new professorship: "The Kassel School of Art and Design is pleased about the establishment of a permanent documenta Institute in Kassel. The documenta had its origin at the Art School and is connected with it in many ways. Many of our teachers were artists who participated in the documenta. Since the beginning of the documenta, our students have also actively participated in the organisation, communication and dissemination of the documenta. As an educational institution we have thus been inexorably and continuously linked with the exhibition. Continuing to develop this connection, integrating art studies, the humanities and the social sciences and at the same time pursuing artistic research and investigation strengthens this unique, profile-enhancing cooperation and highlights Kassel as a cultural and educational location. Therefore it is a central interest of ours to secure the establishment of the documenta Professorship at the Kassel School of Art and Design on a long term basis."

The exact denomination of the professorship is "Art Studies/documenta". The position will be financed for five years from funds of the innovation and structural development budget of the state of Hessen. During its development phase the professorship can also rely on funding from the Hübner and Kennedy Foundation GmbH. Following this, the Kassel School of Art and Design and the University aim to make it a permanent position.

The documenta 14 Press and Information Center opens its doors in Kassel tomorrow, Thursday, 27 April. We warmly invite you to come by and visit us at Friedrichsplatz 4 in the former building of Leder Meid between 12 and 4 pm.

The documenta 14 Press and Information Center in Kassel is an information site and first point of contact for all visitors and members of the press. In the Press and Information Center we provide information materials on documenta 14, answer your questions and inform you about the program of events. Journalists can accredit themselves at the center and use the workplaces on-site during the exhibition.

On the occasion of the Press and Information Center’s opening we offer the possibility to purchase tickets for documenta 14. Select documenta 14 articles as well as the publications documenta 14: Daybook and The documenta 14 Reader are available as of tomorrow. Visitors who would like to donate books for The Parthenon of Books are very welcome to submit these at the Press and Information Center.

Address
Friedrichsplatz 4
34117 Kassel

Opening days and hours
April 27–June 4, 2017
Tuesday–Saturday, 10 am–2 pm
June 5–September 17, 2017
10 am–8 pm daily

Presentation by Klaus Honnef on 27. April 2017

Half a century ago, the appointment to the directorial team of documenta was a particular honor. With documenta 5, the first of two exhibitions in which Klaus Honnef participated, this was to change: now professional deferment rather than career advancement; questions, problems, and contradictions instead of aesthetic certainties. Against the background of a dramatically changing definition of art which was significantly influenced by documenta 5 and 6, the presentation will focus on personal memories and shed light on internal discussions.

Starting with documenta 6, photography and film appeared alongside painting, drawing, and sculpture as equally valid forms of artistic expression. Photographic material from the documenta archiv accompanies the presentation.

Thursday, 27. April 2017, 7 p.m.
Auditorium of the Kunsthochschule Kassel, Menzelstrasse 13–15

Organized in cooperation with the Kunsthochschule Kassel, University of Kassel.

In a competition at the end of last year, the Stuttgart Design Agency L2M3 Kommunikationsdesign GmbH was selected to create a new, modern corporate design for the documenta archiv. The new visual identity developed by Professor Sascha Lobe and his team encompasses not only the documenta archiv’s logo and letterhead, but also a radical new concept and design for the website www.documenta-archiv.de. Additionally the archive received a custom typeface.

For the documenta archiv’s logo, L2M3 designed a special new character as part of the custom alphabet that can simultaneously be interpreted as the lowercase letters ›d‹ and ›a‹. The merging of the two letters into one character seizes on the visual language of earlier documenta exhibitions, which was distinguished by geometrically constructed typography. It refers to a reduction to basic geometric forms in combination with impressions of fonts from the 1950s and 1960s.

The purpose of an archive is to store large quantities of image and text sources, which are primarily stacked in boxes, folders, or drawers. This was adopted as a theme in the design by layering surfaces and images as a stack, from which the consistent design for the print media and website was derived.

The documenta archiv is pleased to introduce the new website www.documenta-archiv.de and is excited to present the ideas of the archive on the way to become an independent research institute in a better way.

The exhibition entitled “The Myth of documenta – Arnold Bode and His Heirs” will be presented in Beijing from 1 to 31 March 2017. Over 600 items will be shown on 1,500 m2 of exhibition space at the CAFA Art Museum. This event will be followed by the exhibition entitled “Arnold Bode and the documenta,” which will be hosted by the New Gallery of Art in Shanghai until the end of June. The primary lender is the documenta Archive, and both exhibitions have been realized in cooperation with the Institut für Kultur- und Medienmanagement of the Freie Universität Berlin and the Institute for Art Administration and Education of the Central Academy of Fine Arts (CAFA). Further details are provided at: museum.cafa.com.cn

In commemoration of the 20th anniversary of the death of Harry Kramer (1925-1997), the Museum für Sepulkralkultur in Kassel is presenting a cabinet exhibition featuring works by the actor, dancer, artist and Professor of Sculpture at the Kunsthochschule Kassel. Realized in cooperation with the documenta Archive, which has administered Kramer’s legacy since 2006, the exhibition will be open to the public until 17 April 2017. An addition to a selection of his works, the show also features four of the highly acclaimed experimental films he produced in collaboration with cameraman Wolfgang Ramsbott (1934-1991). Further details are provided at: www.sepulkralmuseum.de

Press and professionals can request accreditation for the press conference and preview of documenta 14 online. To apply for accreditation, we kindly ask you to complete the online form at the website of documenta 14.

In the two years leading up to the opening of the documenta 14 exhibition in 2017, South as a State of Mind, a magazine founded by Marina Fokidis in Athens in 2012, is publishing four special documenta 14 editions, edited by documenta 14 Editor-in-Chief of Publications Quinn Latimer and Artistic Director Adam Szymczyk. Writing and publishing are an integral part of documenta 14, and South heralds its literary production. Featuring critical thought, art, and literature, South as a State of Mind parallels the work on the documenta 14 exhibition and helps frame its concerns with essays, allegories, conversations, poetry, and visual projects by some of the most clarifying writers and artists working across the world today. And in addition to the print version of South as a State of Mind, redesigned for documenta 14 by Mevis & van Deursen, Amsterdam, South is available in three languages – German, Greek, and English – in an online edition of the magazine that you can find here: documenta14.de/south.

documenta 14 is looking for committed people who are interested in an open discussion on contemporary art with the visitors.

Members of the Chorus create a link between visitors of documenta 14 and the exhibition. Their role is to follow the interests of the visitors-initiating dialogue, debate, and discussion by looking at and experiencing the work and sociopolitical as well as geographical contexts of documenta 14. While historically the Chorus has theatrical origins, speaking and acting with one voice, members of the documenta 14 Chorus and visitors develop a new, multi-tonal approach as they learn together. Applicants for the Chorus should have an open and welcoming attitude with an enthusiasm for looking, listening, researching, discussing, exchanging, and questioning ideas on contemporary artistic practice.

Attributes
– An appetite for actively engaging members of the public from culturally and socially diverse backgrounds in questions of contemporary interest
– A broad experience of contemporary art
– Sensitivity to differing opinions and the ability to moderate group debate
– Self-motivation to research the artistic content of documenta 14
– Ability to draw from a wide and varied general interest in current and political affairs
– Creative, critical, and divergent thinkers with an ability to communicate effectively
– Ability to commit to regular meetings in the lead-up to documenta 14 in Kassel or Athens
– The applicant should be responsible, self-organized, and a good time-keeper
– Sign language and other language abilities desirable (German, Greek, Turkish, Arabic)
– Ability to keep flexible work hours

Contract
As a member of the Chorus you will have a paid position under a freelance contract.

Locations and Preparation
– Athens
– Kassel

The group interviews for Chorus members who wish to be based in Kassel during the period of documenta 14 will be held in Kassel between December 12–16, 2016. The group interviews for Chorus members who wish to be based in Athens during the period of documenta 14 will be held in Athens on December 19–20, 2016. Travel and accommodation costs for the group interview week, for the research and preparation days as well as the period of documenta 14 in Kassel or Athens (according to the applicant’s locality) must be covered by the applicants.

Application
If you wish to apply to become a Chorus member, please send your CV and a motivational letter indicating whether you wish to be based in Athens or Kassel to education [​at​] documenta.de. The Open Call for members of the Chorus is open until December 5, 2016.

About aneducation
aneducation is an open-ended enquiry into modes of questioning, discussing, and thinking art for each and every visitor of documenta 14. aneducation builds projects with schools, universities, art colleges, and communities relating specifically to documenta 14 artist projects. documenta 14 as embedded in the working title Learning from Athens is an integrated approach to an exhibition at the time of its making, Public Programs, and education. The program of aneducation is to reach a wide and diverse audience that is open to thinking about the social role of art and artists in today’s society. aneducation is shaped by three main questions: “What shifts?” “What drifts?” “What remains?” while investigating the relationship between art, education, and the aesthetics of human togetherness through the collective activation of the body-shifting from day to night. What does it mean to come together? How and where do we come together? And what can we do when we come together? documenta 14 does not intend to be a spaceship coming to land in Athens before moving on to Kassel. It is a project that relies on collective action and individual capacities, engaging with the context and building friendships as it grows. During the making of documenta 14, aneducation is a process based on research, meeting with people, listening and conversing, walking, reading, and looking. The encounter between art, artists, and the public is our starting point as we embark on an open road of discovery. To learn from the context in which we situate ourselves means to observe the activity and associate with groups and individuals with whom we find synergy. aneducation program for Learning from Athens positions itself as a form of living currency, exchanged between the makers of documenta 14 and the public that not only gathers knowledge but also disseminates it. documenta 14 is an education that disperses through bodies of collected knowledge and experiences.


aneducation: a multitude of voices
Visits to documenta 14 can be accompanied by a member of the Chorus. The role of the documenta 14 Chorus is to follow the interests of the visitors-listening to and instigating dialogue, debate, and questioning by looking at and experiencing the works of documenta 14. Historically, the Chorus in Greek tragic theater was made up of nonprofessionals and citizens who operated between the audience and actors as commentators, shape-shifters, and empathizers. While often the historical Greek choir would speak from a script with a collective voice, members of the Chorus for documenta 14 and visitors to the exhibition play a dynamic role together in thinking critically together about artist projects and giving voice to deep questions, while also drawing out broader perspectives relating to the respective contexts of documenta 14. In this way the visitor is a contributor to documenta 14, negotiating routes, responses, and works alongside members of the Chorus within a given time frame. The interest of aneducation is to create a multitude of voices that continues to resonate with further questions, mythologies, dialogue, stories, debates, and rumors beyond the realm of the exhibition.


Open Call
The Open Call for members of the Chorus closes on December 5, 2016. The cities of Athens and Kassel both have a heritage of telling and retelling of stories. We are looking for members of the Chorus who are interested in generating open conversation, questioning ideas, and enabling group discussion through the experience of looking at and engaging with both contemporary and historical artistic practices. Members of the Chorus aim to create a discursive space for divergent thinking where ideas can be shared and stories told while visiting documenta 14. Members of the Chorus invite visitors to experiment, discuss, and propose modes of intervention and action during documenta 14. The Chorus for documenta 14 will include local and international artists, students, activists, historians, economists, architects, critical thinkers, dancers, political scientists, art mediators, designers, community leaders… Curious minds are invited to apply and become members of the Chorus.

October 22, 2016, 3 pm: The groundbreaking for the first artistic work of documenta 14 titled The Parthenon of Books is planned for 3 pm on October 22, 2016, at Friedrichsplatz in Kassel. You are cordially invited to perform this symbolic gesture together with the artist Marta Minujín and the curator Pierre Bal-Blanc, and to donate books for the creation of the Parthenon on the spot. The event is open to the public. Further information on this project can be found on the website of documenta 14.

Marta Minujín, documenta 14, and Frankfurter Buchmesse cordially invite the public, publishers, and authors to donate books for the artwork The Parthenon of Books and thus become part of the work. Up to 100,000 formerly or currently banned books from all over the world are needed to erect the work on Friedrichsplatz in Kassel, the same place where, in 1933, numerous books were burned by the Nazis. In Kassel in June 2017 The Parthenon of Books will be constructed using the collected books as a true-to-scale replica of the temple on the Acropolis in Athens, symbolizing the aesthetic and political ideals of the first democracy. The monument will become a decisive symbol of resistance to any banning of writings and the persecution of their authors. To find more information about the project and learn how to donate a book, please visit the website of documenta 14.

„Aus dem documenta Archiv 1“ zeigt Ihnen einen Einblick in die documenta 1, den Sie so nie zuvor wahrnehmen konnten. Bisher existierten keine Filmaufnahmen von dieser wegweisenden Ausstellung im Jahre 1955. Umso spektakulärer ist die nachträgliche Schaffung einer Filmdokumentation auf Basis von Originalfotografien aus dem documenta Archiv und dem Deutschen Dokumentationszentrum für Kunstgeschichte – Bildarchiv Foto Marburg. Die Realisierung gelang Visus-Vision UG mit einem innovativen, selbstentwickelten Softwarewerkzeug. Die eingesprochenen Texte erarbeitete der documenta Kenner Harald Kimpel. Im Anschluss an die Präsentation des Filmes findet eine Diskussion statt, zu der wir erfreulicherweise Heiner Georgsdorf, Dr. Harald Kimpel, E.R Nele sowie die Filmemacher Peter Schima und Bernd Scott begrüßen dürfen. Durch die Diskussion führt Dirk Schwarze, Vorsitzender des documenta forums.

Begrüßung: Dr. Birgit Jooss, Direktorin des documenta Archivs

Moderation der Diskussion: Dirk Schwarze, Vorsitzender des documenta forums

Diskussion: Heiner Georgsdorf, Herausgeber der Schriften von Arnold Bode,
Dr. Harald Kimpel, Kunsthistoriker, E. R. Nele, Tochter von Arnold Bode, Peter Schima und Bernd Scott, Visus-Film UG

Eine Veranstaltung in Kooperation mit dem documenta forum und Visus-Vision UG.

Sonntag, den 16.10.2016
11:00 Uhr
Gloria Kino
Friedrich-Ebert-Str. 3
34117 Kassel

Eintritt frei

documenta Archiv
Untere Karlsstraße 4
Tel: +49 561 70727-3100
Fax: +49 561 70727-3110
D - 34117 Kassel
archiv@documenta.de
www.documentaarchiv.de

Träger des documenta Archivs ist die documenta und Museum Fridericianum gGmbH mit den Gesellschaftern Stadt Kassel und Land Hessen.

Visitors can select one of three different routes at www.documenta-historie.de or with the IZI Travel app. The three routes are “Friedrichsplatz,” “Staatspark Karlsaue,” and “Stadtraum.” The digital documenta guide accompanies visitors to the various works of art in German or English. Descriptions of the individual works provided at each stopping point are supplemented by background information on the respective artists. Interested visitors can either follow a route from start to finish or begin a tour at a work of art of their choice by entering the corresponding QR code.

Die documenta und Museum Fridericianum gGmbH sucht zum nächstmöglichen Termin eine/n: Direktorin/Direktor für das documenta archiv

Die documenta und Museum Fridericianum gGmbH wird von der Stadt Kassel dem Land Hessen getragen und ist seit dem 01.01.2016 verantwortlich für das documenta archiv in Kassel. Das documenta archiv wurde 1961 von Arnold Bode gegründet und umfasst eine Bibliothek mit über 100.000 Bänden, rund 5.000 Film-, Video- und Audiobestände, 60.000 Fotos sowie 1,4 Mio. Archivalien zu den documenta Ausstellungen 1-13. Das documenta archiv soll Grundlage für das gemeinsam mit der Universität Kassel geplante außeruniversitäre documenta Institut sein. Es soll Kassel auch außerhalb der documenta Ausstellungszeit als bedeutenden Ort zeitgenössischer Kunst und Kunstforschung profilieren. Gesucht wird eine Persönlichkeit, die das documenta archiv auf regionaler, nationaler und internationaler Ebene weiterentwickelt.

Aufgaben: Archivleitung mit Personal- und Budgetverantwortung; Festlegung des Sammlungsprofils, Steuerung der Erwerbungen und Entwicklung der Metadaten zur weiteren Archivierung der Dokumente; Baubegleitung für Neubau/ Umbach Archiv/ Bibliothek; Repräsentation des Archivs nach Außen und Öffentlichkeitsarbeit; Planung von Veranstaltungen, Ausstellungen und Publikationen des Archivs; Einwerben von Drittmitteln und Ausbau von Forschungskooperationen

Anforderungen: Abgeschlossenes geisteswissenschaftliches Studium, vorzugsweise der Kunstgeschichte mit Schwerpunkt auf dem 20. und 21. Jahrhundert; Archivfachliche Ausbildung bzw. vergleichbare Erfahrung; Langjährige Berufserfahrung im Archivwesen; Leitungserfahrung in kulturellen Einrichtungen; Herausragende Kompetenz im Bereich Mitarbeiterführung sowie Planung, Organisation und Durchführung von Kulturprojekten; Ergebnisorientierte, praxisnahe Arbeitsweise, flexibles und vernetztes Denken sowie Moderation, Teamfähigkeit und Vermittlungskompetenz; Sehr gute Strategische Fähigkeiten, hohe Eigeninitiative und Verhandlungssicherheit; Sehr gute Englischkenntnisse und eine zweite Fremdsprache; Erfahrung im Umgang mit internationalen Projektpartnern.

Bewerbungsfrist ist der 26.02.2016

Ihre schriftliche Bewerbung mit den üblichen Unterlagen schicken Sie bitte an: documenta und Museum Fridericianum gGmbH, Personalabteilung, Friedrichsplatz 18, 34117 Kassel

The catalog for Helen Marten’s exhibition Parrot Problems at the Fridericianum is now available. Parrot Problems is the British artist’s first institutional solo exhibition in Germany. The catalog features articles by Diedrich Diederichsen and Johanna Burton and a conversation between Helen Marten and Susanne Pfeffer.

This year’s Arnold-Bode Prize awarded by the documenta city of Kassel goes to Hiwa K, who currently lives in Berlin. After graduating from secondary school in Iraq, Hiwa K pursued further education along with other visual artists, intellectuals, and theater artists in self-organized study groups in his native country. His projects represent an ongoing critique of art education, the professionalization of art practice, staging, and visibility as well as the myth of the individual artist. Hiwa K has been invited to participate in documenta 14 in 2017. The prize includes a grant of 10, 000 euros. The award will be presented at the Kasseler Kunstverein on 3 November 2016.

Birgit Jooss is the new director of the documenta archiv of the Art of the 20th and 21st Centuries in Kassel. In addition to developing the collection profile, the duties of the archive director include integrating the archive in national and international networks, the scope of unrestricted accessibility, and developing a strategy for digitizing archive materials as well as pursuing further expansion of the archive and the library, procuring funding, and overseeing the planned remodeling/new building project for the documenta Archiv/Institut. “In Birgit Jooss we have succeeded in recruiting a well-connected, internationally recognized expert who will be able to move the archive ahead at the regional, national, and international levels. That is an important step for the archive as the basis for the planned documenta Institut and its essential significance for the cultural legacy of the documenta and its history,” explained Annette Kulenkampff, CEO of documenta und Museum Fridericianum gGmbH.

In the two years leading up to the opening of the documenta 14 exhibition in 2017, South as a State of Mind, a magazine founded by Marina Fokidis in Athens in 2012, is publishing four special documenta 14 editions, edited by documenta 14 Editor-in-Chief of Publications Quinn Latimer and Artistic Director Adam Szymczyk. Writing and publishing are an integral part of documenta 14, and its journal heralds that process. A forum for research, critique, art, and literature, South as a State of Mind parallels the preparatory work on the d14 exhibition and helps frame its concerns and aims with essays, conversations, poetry, fiction, and visual projects by some of the most singular writers, thinkers, and artists of our time. As a supplement to the print issue of South as a State of Mind, the articles from d14-South are available in in three languages (German, Greek, and English) in the online version posted at www.documenta14.de/south.

A banner on the Weinberg Bridge informs visitors that the documenta is scheduled to begin in Kassel less than a year from now. documenta 14 will open in Kassel on 10 June and end on 17 September 2017. The exhibition begins in Athens on 8 April and will run through 16 July 2017.

On 28 May 2016, 5pm, Fridericianum opens the exhibition entitled Jungle Stripe — the first institutional solo exhibition of the artist Anicka Yi (born 1971). With sculptural and video works all produced specifically for the exhibition, she creates a complex structure of hybrid forms. The exhibition is on view from 29 May to 4 September 2016 on the ground floor of the Fridericianum.

On April 14, 2016 Susanne Pfeffer, director of the Fridericianum, received an award for curating the best exhibition of 2015. Her exhibition Inhuman was selected from twelve exhibitions that took place in Austria, Germany, and Switzerland in 2015.

Starting in April 2017, Aegean Airlines introduces twice-weekly flights between Kassel and Athens with the aim of providing a direct connection for visitors wishing to visit the two cities in which the documenta 14 exhibition takes place. Aegean Airlines is the official airline partner of documenta.

On 30 January 2016, the Fridericianum opens a group exhibition entitled Images with Cory Arcangel, Trisha Donnelly, Wade Guyton, Pierre Huyghe, Mark Leckey, Michel Majerus, Philippe Parreno, Seth Price and Sturtevant. The exhibition will be on view from 31 January until 1 May 2016.

On December 21 the Federal Foreign Minister Dr Frank-Walter Steinmeier appointed Susanne Pfeffer, director of Fridericianum, to curate the German Pavilion at the 57. Biennale di Venezia.

Die documenta und Museum Fridericianum gGmbH und die Circus FlicFlac GmbH haben sich auf eine Versetzung des Flic-Flac-Zeltes geeinigt, so dass Der Vertikale Erdkilometer von Walter de Maria auch während des FlicFlac Festivals frei zugänglich bleibt. Zur Eröffnung am 18.12.2015 wurde das Zirkuszelt um 6 Meter verschoben.

December 5, 2015, 7:30 pm with Andreas Angelidakis, Marina Fokidis, Ayse Güleç, Quinn Latimer, Adam Szymczyk, and Margarita Tsomou in Kulturzentrum Schlachthof, Mombachstraße 10, 34127 Kassel.

December 6, 2015, 7:00 pm with Akinbode Akinbiyi, Marina Fokidis, Peter Friedl, Bouchra Khalili, Quinn Latimer, Bonaventure Soh Bejeng Ndikung, Adam Szymczyk, and Françoise Vergès in SAVVY Contemporary in Silent Green, Gerichtstraße 35, 13347 Berlin-Wedding. The evening will be accompanied by musical interventions by Ahmet Ögüt / Ali Demirel, Ange Da Costa, VSS Trio (Charles Sammons, Kelvin Sholar, Eric Vaughn), and DJ Judex.

Athens: 8 April–16 July 2017 / Kassel: 10 June–17 September 2017

Launch of the documenta 14 publication program with South as a State of Mind #6 [documenta 14 #1]. The first issue is now published in print and online. You can purchase the magazine in German and international bookshops and also in press and books shops at the railway stations and airports. Should you require more detailed information as to where to find the magazine in your area, please contact our distributor, Buchhandlung Walther König.More informationen: documenta 14.de

Attended by over 600 visitors, the two-day symposium hosted by documenta Guest Professor Dorothea von Hantelmann on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the documenta came to a successful conclusion. For the first time ever, the Artistic Directors of documenta 10 through 13 spoke with guests about their documenta exhibitions. Adam Szymczyk, the Artistic Director of documenta 14, concluded the symposium with a performance by the Iraqi artist Hiwa K.

The Hessian Culture Prize for 2015 was presented to the former Artistic Directors of the documenta by Minister President Volker Bouffier on 17 July 2015. The honored recipients were:

Arnold Bode (posthumous) (d1-d4) Harald Szeemann (posthumous) (d5) Manfred Schneckenburger (d6 and d8) Rudi Fuchs (d7) Jan Hoet (posthumous) (d9) Catherine David (d10) Okwui Enwezor (d11) Roger M. Buergel (d12) Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev (d13)

On the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the documenta, the Fridericianum is presenting a survey exhibition of the art of Marcel Broodthaers (1924-1976) from 17 July to 11 October 2015. The Belgian artist, who took part in four documenta exhibitions, is represented by works from all of his creative periods.

Founded by Arnold Bode in 1961 and since operated by the City of Kassel, the documenta archive was symbolically entrusted to documenta GmbH in a festive ceremony on 15 July 2015. The transfer will become official on 1 January 2016. From that point on, the documenta archive will be funded jointly by the City of Kassel and the State of Hessen, and the annual budget will double to one million euros.

The documenta marked its 60th birthday in Kassel with a festive celebration in Kassel in honor of the milestone occasion under the patronage of Mayor Bertram Hilgen. Twenty-nine art and cultural institutions in Kassel joined for the first time in organizing a program devoted to recalling aspects of the multifaceted history of the documenta since 1955 and enabling visitors to experience them once again. The more than fifty events on the program included numerous exhibitions, film presentations, performances, panel discussions, readings, and guided tours.

The documenta has left an indelible imprint on the city of Kassel during the past sixty years. Guided tours to the works of outdoor art remaining in Kassel from past exhibitions enable visitors to experience the complex historical significance of these works while offering both contexts and insights. Contemporary witnesses shared their recollections of past documenta exhibitions with visitors at many different locations.

The documenta Forum invited E.R. Nele, the daughter of documenta founder Arnold Bode, art historian Prof. Adrian von Buttlar, and Pitt Moog, a former master student of Bode’s, to a panel discussion on the first documenta of 1955. While works from past documenta exhibitions purchased by the city of Kassel were the focus of attention at the Neue Galerie, the Naturkundemuseum and the Kulturbahnhof, the documenta Archive presented its “My documenta” project devoted to the recollections of contemporary witnesses and offered guided tours. Artists featured in past documenta exhibitions took part in the program in a number of project spaces in Kassel, among them Ugo Dossi, Horst Hoheisel, Jürgen Klauke, and Timm Ulrichs. The festivities continued into the evening with a grand open-air swing concert by the Orchestra of the Staatstheater Kassel featuring pieces from the founding years of the documenta in the 1950s and 1960s. The performance at Friedrichsplatz drew 12,000 visitors. After the concert, the Open-Air-Kino showed Let’s Get Lost, one of the favorite films of Adam Szymczyk, Artistic Director of documenta 14. The film by Bruce Weber produced in 1988 is about transience and remembrance – and was “an invitation to get lost together, alone” (Adam Szymczyk).

With generous support provided by: Boxan, the Hessian Ministry of Art and Science, the HNA, the Kasseler Sparkasse, Kassel Marketing GmbH, the Staatstheater Kassel, the City of Kassel, Städtische Werke AG; media partner: HNA

Founded by Arnold Bode, the documenta opened in Kassel for the first time on July 15, 1955, and thirteen editions of the documenta have been presented since then. Preparations for the documenta 14 are currently in progress, and the exhibition is scheduled to open in Athens and Kassel in 2017. The 60th anniversary of the documenta, which is now regarded as the most important exhibition of contemporary art in the world, will be celebrated with an impressive program of accompanying events.

17 and 18 July 2015, documenta Halle with: Carmen Amor, Karen Barad, Beatrice von Bismarck, Kristina Buch, Roger M. Buergel, Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev, Catherine David, Okwui Enwezor, Peter Galison, David Joselit, Hiwa K, Lu Jie, Michael Lüthy, Sarat Maharaj, Oliver Marchart, Laura Zheng Ning, Ruth Noack, Nikos Papastergiadis, Griselda Pollock, Tino Sehgal, Raqs Media Collective / Shuddhabrata Sengupta, Adam Szymczyk, Wang Jianwei. Further information: www.documenta60.de

On occasion of the forthcoming referendum in Greece, Adam Szymczyk, Artistic Director of documenta 14, spoke to Margarita Tsomou in Athens. The conversation in German was published 3 July 2015 on ZEIT ONLINE.
photo: Tadeusz Rolke

The new website of documenta 14 is online as of 4 July 2015. The office of Laurenz Brunner and Julia Born are responsible for the graphic design, programming by Julia Novitch. www.documenta14.de

Join us tonight in Kassel, 6.00 pm, at Fridericianum, for a discussion hosted by KulturNetz Kassel on documenta's 60th birthday that is coming up in July this year. Annette Kulenkampff, CEO of documenta and Horst Seidenfaden, Editor in Chief of local newspaper HNA discuss chances and challenges.