documenta

The documenta is the world's most important series of exhibitions of contemporary art. It takes place every five years in Kassel (originally every four years ) and lasts for 100 days. The first documenta was organized in 1955 and is due to the initiative of Arnold Bode.

DOCUMENTA (13 ) began on 9 June 2012 and ended on 16 September 2012. Documenta is also referred to as a museum of 100 days. The next Documenta takes place between September 17, 2017 of 10 June.

Description quote

"... The documenta has the art world shaken repeatedly whether. Poor in, thirsting for art post-war period, in riotous revolt - years, in the carefree era of the late 20th century or the globalizing of the century, The documenta - history is a story of defeat, doubt, the scandals and the same time of renewal, the realization of artistic productive force. But always it was a success story ... "

Neologism "documenta "

The name of the exhibition is an invented word. The label bears the claim in particular the first documenta of 1955 in itself to be a documentary about the modern art that the Germans had not accessible during the time of National Socialism. From the radius of Arnold Bode was rumored, at the Naming a role I played, that the Latin word documentum the words docere, teach ' and mens ' spirit' bear within themselves - and thus objective and claim the documenta reproducing well.

The name comes from the environment by Arnold Bode; who is the exact copyright, today is no longer just detectable. Arnold Bode himself complaining authorship for the word documenta clearly for itself: " 50 I invented the name ". The neologism documenta is a typical creation of the 1950s. In - then modern - lowercase and with an attached "a" ( Arnold Bode: " we make a, a ' turn that sounded very good ... "), it is reminiscent of other neologisms that time, for example at the construction fair Constructa ( 1951 ) in Hanover.

For the art word exists no fixed plural formation. Both the plural form " documenten " as well as combinations of words such as " documenta exhibitions " are common. Bode himself and other exhibition director of both Documenta used ( Arnold Bode: " Fridericianum Museum lends itself between the documenten as a club, ..." or worm Manfred Burger: " The individual documenten found in the following years instead ").

The name of the exhibition is lowercase of the makers today in the rule. Often "documenta " also abbreviated as " d" followed by the distinguishing number referred ( for example, "d 12"). Based on the duration of the exhibition is the "documenta " and " Museum of 100 Days" called. Regardless of who was the originator of the art word, the goal of creation was achieved. The neologism should be timeless. And now is "documenta ", a quasi- synonym for " contemporary art " become.

Development

Already at the beginning of the 20th century took place in Kassel exhibitions, art from around the world displayed, including the Jubilee Art Exhibition in 1913 with a focus on " Art Nouveau ". Recognized for its 1929 Fourth hosted art exhibition at the Orangerie with a focus on " New Art ". At the time of National Socialism did not find any significant art exhibitions more.

Initiator of the first documenta in Kassel was an art professor and designer Arnold Bode. At the Federal Garden Show in 1955, he managed to attract more than 130,000 visitors. Focus of this first exhibition was less the " contemporary art ", ie after 1945, resulting, rather Bode wanted to Close The particularly on the work of those artists who were known during the time of National Socialism under the name of "Degenerate Art" in Germany. Was therefore given to abstract art, particularly the abstract painting of the 1920s and 1930s the focus of the first exhibition. During the following years, the focus shifted to contemporary art. Initially, the show was limited to Europe, but soon they also included works by artists from the Americas, Africa and Asia.

The documentation presents a cross section of contemporary art from the perspective of the respective curator - is mentioned in the context of the artistic director of documenta. Her story is full of contradictions and inconsistencies, in which a variety of artistic and curatorial attitudes, philosophies and theories as well as reflect political and social time flows. The number of visitors of documenta rise regularly. The Documenta11 counted 650,000 visitors. As the world's only institution of comparable importance is considered the Venice Biennale.

Venues

The documentation uses different venues within the city of Kassel. Fixed place since 1955 is the Fridericianum. Since 1992, the DOCUMENTATION IX, the newly built documenta-Halle was added. In addition, be - each according to the ideas of the artistic director - other museums in Kassel for the duration of the exhibition on the part of the documentation. There are also buildings that are regularly not used for exhibition purposes and therefore the aspect of the exhibited more insight grant about as technical or infrastructural facilities.

In addition to the artistic works that are presented within buildings, including works are fixed in the open air part of the documentation. Location of this outdoor work is traditionally the Frederick Square, in front of the Fridericianum, as well as the Karlsaue, an inner-city park. However, other locations within the city have been used.

Branches of the Documenta (13 ) were located in Kabul and Bamiyan in Afghanistan, Alexandria and Cairo in Egypt, and Banff in Canada.

Visitors structure

A study of the administration economist Gerd -Michael Hellstern has created by the University of Kassel, supplies based on interviews during the Documenta 11 (2002) figures for visitor structure:

Thereafter, only 7 percent of the visitors came directly from Kassel, on the other hand traveled 27 percent from abroad. 57 percent of respondents considered themselves to the group of regular visitors. 61 percent of the people who visited the exhibition in 2002, wanted to come back in 2007. The event will be dominated by younger, 22.5 percent were between 30 and 39 years old, the second largest group represented the 20 - to 29 -year-olds with 21.8 percent. A third of respondents were academics, but only 1.2 percent of skilled workers.

Organization

Is organized by the World exhibition of contemporary art through the documenta and Museum Fridericianum Event GmbH, a charitable society, which is supported by the city of Kassel and the State of Hesse as a shareholder and financed and also financially supported by the German Federal Cultural Foundation. The current Managing Director is Bernd Leifeld (since 1996), who is retiring at the end June 2014. On April 12, 2013, the Supervisory Board elected the incumbent since 1997, managing the publisher Hatje Cantz Verlag, Annette Kulenkampff. The respective mayor of Kassel, Bertram Hilgen currently is the Chairman of the Supervisory Board.

Documenta Archiv

From an idea by Arnold Bode was born in 1961 in Kassel documenta archive, consisting of a special library on contemporary art and the complete files and materials from the environment of the documenta - organization. The archive hosts a video library of exhibition and event documentation, artist portraits to art of the 20th and 21st century art as well as videos from the last 30 years.

External works that remained in Kassel

A few of the works remained as purchases in Kassel museums. Some outdoor work can be found today in townscape, the project 7000 Oaks by Joseph Beuys with the provocative subtitle " urban forestation held city administration " probably probably the most important. On the occasion of documenta 6 in 1977, was the walk- steel sculpture frame building of the Austrian artist collective Haus-Rucker- Co. By the artist Horst H. Baumann was the world's first laser installation in public space, set up between Zwehrenturm, Hercules, orangery and Karlsaue. She was later reactivated as Laserscape Kassel, and is in modified form to this day in operation. The made ​​of polyester and is reminiscent of a folded paper boat dreamboat Aunt Olga by Anatol Herzfeld found a place on the grounds of Heinrich Schütz school. Walter De Maria drilled on the Friedrichplatz the Vertical Earth Kilometer and filled the hole with solid brass rods of 5 cm in diameter, one inside the other to one kilometer, were permanently embedded in the earth, from the top you can see on the Friedrichplatz only one plate and in the middle circular cross-section of the rod.

To documenta 7, 1982, Claes Oldenburg anchored an oversized pickaxe on the banks of the Fulda. The documenta 9 in 1992, They installed walking to the sky ( Germanized today called Himmelsstürmer ) by Jonathan Borofsky found now on the forecourt of the Kassel Central Station (not the ICE railway station Kassel- height). Also in Kassel remained a part of Thomas Schütte's figure group "strangers" that is installed on the balcony of the former Red Palace on Frederick Place. The other part of these sculptures on the roof of the Music and Congress Hall in Lübeck.

The sculpture of Jimmie Durham This Stone is from the mountain - This stone is from the Red Palace documenta IX, 1992, which was located on the second paragraph of Gustav Mahler staircase has been removed in the summer of 2011. During the Documenta (13 ) both stones are again part of the art exhibition ( artwork 54 - Latitude: N 51 ° 18 009 ', length: E 9 ° 29 909 ')

Quite a few of these works of art came in Kassel's population initially met with skepticism or rejection and had to be enforced against considerable resistance, such as the Vertical Earth Kilometer or who are now great appreciation gladdening 7000 Oaks. Urban forestation instead Municipality of Beuys. The latter were at the time of their installation 1982-1987 an appeal against the critical and diskussionsereifernde impotence of the petrification of people and cities.

The steel structures ( pickaxe, frame and Himmelsstürmer ) were made ​​in close consultation with the artists from the Kassel-based company " steel construction Lamparter ".

The 1992 built by landscape architect Gustav Lange as part of a controversial redesign of the central square Kassel king staircase to nowhere was not an original documenta - work contrary to popular views. It was filed only at the insistence of and associated with financial assurances from the city by the then director Jan Hoet as part of the documentation. The controversial work of art was not in a legal action initiated by Kassel damaligem Mayor George Lewandowski, demolished in 2000.

Literature and sources

• Harald Kimpel: documentation, myth and reality. Cologne 1997, ISBN 3-7701-4182-2.
• Harald Kimpel: documentation. About The Show. Five decades of world art exhibition in keywords. Cologne 2002, ISBN 3-8321-5948-7.
• Dirk Schwarze: Milestones: 50 Years documenta. Art and artists (HNA Edition). Bostelmann & Siebenhaar Verlag, Berlin 2005, ISBN 3-936962-23-5. ( under altered title: Milestones: The documenta 1 to 12 - Works of art and artists second, expanded edition Bostelmann & Siebenhaar Verlag, Berlin 2007, ISBN 978-3-936962-55-0. . )
• Dirk Schwarze: The expansion of the documenta - criticism. An exhibition in the press. Volume 16 of the series on art criticism. (Ed.): Walter Vitt, publishing Steinmeier, Nördlingen 2006, ISBN 3-939777-05-6.
• Michael Glass Meier, Karin Stengel ( eds. ): 50 Years / Years documenta 1955 to 2005. 2 volumes: Discrete energy / archive in motion. Steidl Verlag, Göttingen 2005, ISBN 3-86521-146-1.
• Culture Department of the City of Kassel / documentation archive ( ed.): CIS GmbH (Prod. ); CD: Documentation 1-9 - A Focus on four decades of exhibition history / profiling four Decades of exhibition history - 1955-1992. CIS GmbH ( Prod ), Würzburg 1997, ISBN 3-89322-934-5.
• Ulrike Want main Schmidt: documenta 1955 An exhibition in the tension of the arguments about the art of the avant-garde from 1945 to 1960. . Frankfurt am Main / Berlin / Bern / New York / Paris / Vienna 1994, ISBN 3-631-47242-0.
• Marianne Heinz (ed.): Arnold Bode ( 1900-1977 ) - Life and Work. Wolfratshausen 2000, ISBN 3-932353-48- X.
• Lothar Orzechowski, City Savings Bank Kassel ( Ed.): Arnold Bode documenta Kassel - essays. Kassel, 1986, ISBN 3-925272-10-0.
• Alfred Nemeczek: The Kassel World moment - 50 years of documenta: 1955 was the Hessian residence for the first time one summer to the art capital of Europe. In: THE TIME. No. 28 of 7 July 2005
• Barbara Orth: The world is new: Encounters with the documenta 1-4. Publisher M. Faste, Kassel 2007.
• Harald Kimpel (ed.): documentation emotionally. Memories of the world art exhibitions. Jonas Verlag, Marburg 2011, ISBN 978-3-89445-462-3.
• Christian Saehrendt: Kassel. Is it art or is it gone? Documentation stories, myths and fairy tales. DuMont, Cologne 2012, ISBN 978-3-8321-9344-7.