documenta 6
The documenta 6 found from June 24 to October 2, 1977 in Kassel place and was the largest ever organized art exhibition in Germany. Its artistic director was Manfred Schneckenburger , while Wieland Schmied was responsible for the drawing section. A total of 655 artists with 2,700 works took part in documenta 6. 343,410 visitors saw the sixth documenta.
concept
The participants used different types of media as an art form: photography and film were brought into focus. In addition, the media society was discussed. For the first time, as a major exhibition in the photography department, documenta 6 placed the works of historical and contemporary photographers in the context of contemporary art in the context of “ 150 years of photography ”.
For the first time at a documenta there was an examination of socialist realism in the fine arts of the GDR . The participation of six "official" artists of the GDR ( Willi Sitte , Bernhard Heisig , Wolfgang Mattheuer and Werner Tübke represented East German painting in a separate department - the sculptors Jo Jastram and Fritz Cremer the sculptures of the GDR) was controversial and led to heated discussions in the run-up to and during the documenta - up to and including the departure of other exhibition participants who have already been appointed.
Horst Wackerbarth was commissioned with the publication " Art and Media - Materials for documenta 6 ", in particular positions by younger artists Bazon Brock , Eberhard Fiebig and Adam Jankowski , but also political texts.
Works of art
Important works of art were Richard Serra's “ Terminal ” and Walter De Maria's “ Vertical Earth Kilometer ” on Friedrichsplatz . De Maria bored a one kilometer deep hole and filled the hole with massive brass rods 5 cm in diameter, which were inserted one kilometer into one another and permanently embedded in the earth.
The laser sculpture Laserscape by Horst H. Baumann was particularly popular with the people of Kassel. Today - in a different form and technique - it can be seen again a few days a year in the Kassel night sky from the Zwehrenturm . Joseph Beuys' “ honey pump at work ” took up a large part of the rotunda of the Fridericianum . Against the background of the Starfighter affair , Wolf Vostell wanted to put a Starfighter on the roof of the Fridericianum, which he was not allowed to do. Instead, he showed his installation “La quinta del sordo” (The House of the Dove) based on Francisco de Goya .
The accessible steel sculpture “ Frame Building ” by the Austrian artist collective Haus-Rucker-Co , as well as the “Traumschiff Tante Olga” by Anatol Herzfeld , made of polyester and reminiscent of a folded paper boat, can still be seen in Kassel. Today the ship is at the Heinrich Schütz School .
"Laserscape" by Horst H. Baumann
“ Vertical Earth Kilometer ” by Walter De Maria
“Traumschiff Tante Olga” by Anatol Herzfeld
Exhibition locations
The exhibition venues were the Fridericianum , the Neue Galerie , the orangery in the Karlsaue park, as well as the Karlsaue itself. The documenta 6 showed a strong presence through its outdoor work. The entire Karlsaue was developed with works of art.
Bazon Brock's visitor school was organized for the third time after the 4th documenta and documenta 5 to provide didactic support for the exhibition .
Participating artists
A total of 655 artists took part in the Documenta:
Some artists have withdrawn their works:
- Georg Baselitz and Markus Lüpertz because of the admission of the "official" GDR artists
- Gerhard Richter withdrew his pictures because of a dispute about the hanging of his works.
Works of art remaining in Kassel
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The dream ship Tante Olga von Anatol (polyester, height approx. 3 m and length approx. 10 m)
Location: Outdoor area of the Heinrich Schütz School
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The Vertical Earth Kilometer by Walter De Maria (Messing, length and depth of 1000 m, 5 cm in diameter; Head Mount: sandstone 200 x 200 cm)
Location: Friedrichplatz
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Laserscape Kassel by Horst H. Baumann
Location: Zwehrenturm - Herkules - Orangery - Karlsaue - Laser environment over the city (only temporarily in operation)
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Frame construction by Haus-Rucker-Co (galvanized steel, steel grating, 14 × 16.5 × 31 m)
Location: Friedrichsplatz / Schöne Aussicht, Gustav Mahler stairs
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documenta signet for d6 by Karl Oskar Blase
Location: Garden of Karl Oskar Blase's private house, Kuhbergstraße 47
Sources and literature
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Catalog for documenta 6. Kassel 1977, ISBN 3-920453-00-X .
- Volume 1: Painting, Sculpture / Environment, Performance.
- Volume 2: photography, film, video.
- Volume 3: Hand drawings, utopian design, books.
- Manfred Schneckenburger (Ed.): Documenta - Idea and Institution: Tendencies, Concepts, Materials. Munich 1983, ISBN 3-7654-1902-8 .
- Kunstforum International: documenta 6. Volume 21, 3/77, Mainz 1977.
- Klaus Honnef : 150 years of photography. Zweiausendeins, Mainz / Frankfurt am Main 1977. (Extended special edition of Kunstforum International: 150 Years of Photography III / Photography at documenta 6 , Volume 22)
- Ralf Zumpfe, Karin Schrader, Carsten Thiemann: Architectural Guide Kassel 1900 - 1999. Kassel 1997, ISBN 3-87816-087-9 .
- Horst Wackerbarth (ed.), Stadtzeitung and Verlag Kassel: Art and Media - Materials for documenta 6. Kassel 1977, ISBN 3-921768-00-4 .
- Harald Kimpel : documenta, myth and reality. Cologne 1997, ISBN 3-7701-4182-2 .
- Dirk Schwarze: Milestones: 50 years of documenta. Kassel 2005, ISBN 3-936962-23-5 .
- Kulturamt der Stadt Kassel, documenta archive (ed.): Documenta 1-9 - A focus on four decades of exhibition history / Profiling four decades of exhibition history - 1955 - 1992. Kassel / Würzburg 1997, ISBN 3-89322-934-5 . (CD)
- Harald Kimpel (Ed.): Utopie documenta: Unrealized projects from the history of the world art exhibition , Verlag für Moderne Kunst, Nuremberg 2015, ISBN 978-3-9030-0436-8 .
Web links
Single receipts
documenta 1955 | II. Documenta 1959 | documenta III 1964 | 4th documenta 1968 | documenta 5 1972 | documenta 6 1977 | documenta 7 1982 | documenta 8 1987 | DOCUMENTA IX 1992 | documenta X 1997 | Documenta11 2002 | documenta 12 2007 | dOCUMENTA (13) 2012 | documenta 14 2017 | documenta 15 2022