documenta 14

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Documenta 14 logo
The Parthenon of Books next to the Fridericianum

The documenta 14 was the 14th edition of Documenta , one of the world's most important series of exhibitions for contemporary art . Documenta 14 took place in Kassel from June 10 to September 17, 2017 and in Athens as a second, conceptually equal location from April 8 to July 16, 2017. Artists were invited to work in both locations.

Preliminary planning

Managing directors

In April 2013, the documenta supervisory board appointed Annette Kulenkampff - as the successor to the retired Bernd Leifeld - as managing director of documenta und Museum Fridericianum gGmbH . She took up her position in July 2014 and has since been responsible for the execution and budget of the exhibition. Kulenkampff has been the managing publisher at Hatje Cantz Verlag since 1997 , where she is also responsible for the catalogs for the exhibitions documenta 9 , documenta 10 , documenta 11 and documenta 13 , which have been published since 1992 . The composition of the search committee was announced in April 2013. Kulenkampff ended her job on June 1, 2018.

Finding committee

Up until November 2013, the eight-person selection committee had the task of developing a proposal for the artistic direction of the upcoming documenta for submission to the supervisory board. The search committee consisted of:

At a press conference on November 22, 2013 in Kassel , Adam Szymczyk , originally from Poland , at that time director of the Kunsthalle Basel , was announced as the artistic director of Documenta 14 from the beginning of 2014.

concept

Adam Szymczyk , artistic director of Documenta 14

On October 6, 2014, Adam Szymczyk officially presented the documenta concept at the Kunsthochschule Kassel . A special feature of this concept was that in addition to Kassel, Athens was selected as the second location with equal rights. Szymczyk explained his decision by saying that it was time for a change of perspective and a complete transformation of the documenta through a change of location. The exhibiting artists were invited to work in both Kassel and Athens. The working title for documenta 14 was Learn from Athens . Szymczyk sees Athens as a victim of a “neocolonial” and “neoliberal” attitude, marked by the “degrading stigma of the crisis”, commented Philipp Meier in the Neue Zürcher Zeitung.

Szymczyk also introduced his team to the art college. These curators and journalists supported Szymczyk: Pierre Bal-Blanc (curator and director of the Contemporary Art Center in Brétigny), Marina Fokidis (initiator and artistic director of the Kunsthalle Athena), Hendrik Folkerts (ex-curator at the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam ), Henriette Gallus (Head of Communication d14, was press spokeswoman for documenta 13 , member of the supervisory board of Bergen Assembly, Norway), Annie-Claire Geisinger (responsible for public relations for the George Economou Collection in Athens), Quinn Latimer (American author and critic), Andrea Linnenkohl (assistant Szymczyks, was a curator at the Kassel Fridericianum ), Hila Peleg (curator and filmmaker), Christoph Platz (head of the exhibition department, art historian), Dieter Roelstraete (senior curator at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago), Fivos Sakalis (journalist and communications consultant), Katrin Sauerländer (art historian), Monika Szewcyzk (curator), Katerina Tselou (Kura torin and coordinator of the curatorial team of the 4th Athens Biennale 2013), Bonaventure Soh Bejeng Ndikung (curator-at-large for documenta 14, director of SAVVY Contemporary) and Natasha Ginwala (curatorial advisor of documenta 14).

The concept of having the documenta take place in Athens as well as Kassel led to fears in the Kassel region, as there was fear of losing importance. The Kassel daily newspaper HNA , the local CDU and the chairman of the association of city merchants in Kassel decidedly rejected the concept of the Polish curator.

Documenta information container on Friedrichsplatz

For the first time, a strict corporate design was dispensed with, instead four teams designed the visual appearance from completely heterogeneous elements.

  • Documenta 14 website and catalog: The Swiss Laurenz Brunner and Julia Born from Berlin
  • documenta 14 Reader and the Public Paper: Ludovic Balland Typography Cabinet from Basel
  • Appearance with guidance system in Kassel and the magazine "South as a State of Mind": Mevis & Van Deursen from Amsterdam
  • Appearance with a guidance system in Athens and additional graphic elements: VIER5 from Paris

The opening in Athens took place in April, in Kassel the opening took place on June 10, 2017, at both locations the exhibition traditionally lasted 100 days each. Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier and Greek President Prokopis Pavlopoulos were present at both openings . For the duration of the overlap of the exhibition locations, Aegean Airlines offered a connection between Kassel-Calden Airport and Athens Airport as a sponsor .

Criticism of the concept and implementation

During the documenta period, the Athens Biennale took place in parallel in Athens . The program of the biennale, which has been taking place since 2007, was designed as an alternative to the German art show. Many Greek artists questioned whether Germans could tell them who they were. The documenta is aimed primarily at foreign tourists and not at the residents of Athens. The Athens artist Poka-Yio said, "this exhibition could just as easily have taken place in Zurich, Basel or anywhere else".

The director Alexis Alatsis pointed out that the documenta was advertised too late in Athens and that the difference to other cultural events was not sufficiently emphasized. The strategy of organizing the exhibition in many decentralized locations also failed. Athens cannot be compared with Kassel.

Vermittlungsprogramm / Education program - walks

The Fridericianum. The slogan “Museum Fridericianum” was redesigned by Banu Cennetoğlu

In the field of art education, the Education program, so-called walks were offered for the first time. Walks are tours of the exhibition venues and documenta art. One approach in the concept of the walks at documenta 14 was based on the promenadology ( science of walking ) by Lucius Burckhardt . The walks were described by the education program department as follows: “The paths, routes and courses of the visitors cross and intertwine when they follow in the footsteps of Annemarie and Lucius Burckhardt and their method of walking science. Her unconventional practice and thoughts on urban and landscape planning in Kassel were a starting point for thinking about walking. During a walk with a member of the documenta 14 choir, visitors can bring in their own perspectives, question them and talk to each other while they discover and unravel the exhibition. ”The walks were attended by 160 specially trained people between the ages of 18 and 80 who were Member of the choir or also called choristers were performed. The task of the choir was to initiate dialogues, discussions and debates during the exhibition tour by looking at and experiencing the work of documenta 14 together. Historically, in Greek tragedy , the choir offered a variety of background information to help the audience follow the performance. In contrast to the historical Greek choir, the choristers of documenta 14 should encourage the participants of the walks to take an active role in joint critical thinking about the art of the documenta, to address questions and to include the respective context of documenta 14.

There were four focal points that were offered during the walks, which were directly related to the respective exhibition locations: "Fridericianum", " documenta Halle and Friedrichsplatz ", "Alte Hauptpost und Gottschalk-Halle" and " Neue Galerie zum Palais Bellevue ".

financing

The total budget was initially set at 37 million euros, with the city of Kassel and the state of Hesse each accounting for 7 million euros and the Federal Cultural Foundation for 4.5 million euros. The exhibition itself was to generate the remaining 18.5 million from entrance fees and sponsor payments. In August 2017, the management reported imminent "financial bottlenecks" to the supervisory board of the gGmbH , at the same time an impending deficit of 7 million euros was forecast, so the city of Kassel and the state of Hesse, as shareholders of documenta gGmbH, took over guarantees for loans in the same amount. Auditors were commissioned to carry out a special audit. According to media reports, the concept with two locations in particular is said to have led to a shortfall due to high costs for travel, transport and cooling of the exhibition venues. The threatened bankruptcy of the company was averted, but the whereabouts of 5.4 million euros remained unclear. The prosecutor Kassel took early 2018 investigations against four managers in management and supervisory board of the art exhibition for embezzlement on. At the beginning of August 2018, the public prosecutor announced the termination of the proceedings. A clarification on the whereabouts of the million is still open.

The exhibition in Kassel was visited by 891,500 people and the exhibition in Athens counted 339,000 visits. In Athens, visitors to several exhibition locations were counted several times. Documenta 13 had 905,000 visitors, 860,000 of them in Kassel. According to the organizer, documenta 14 was the most visited exhibition of contemporary art of all time and the exhibition in Athens the most visited in the history of Greece. No own entrance fees were charged in Athens. Access was either free or the proceeds went to the respective local institutions.

Participating artists

El Hadji Sy
Hiwa K
Oliver Ressler
Britta Marakatt-Labba (2015)
Cecilia Vicuña
Annie Sprinkle

Deceased artists whose works have been exhibited

Participating artists of the documenta 14 radio program

Topics, works and actions (selection)

  • Looted art
  • Parthenon of the Books of Marta Minujín
  • Obelisk from Olu Oguibe
  • "Auschwitz on the Beach" (first canceled, then renamed)
Other exhibits

Exhibition locations

documenta hall
Gloria cinema

Overall, the Documenta took place at 35 venues in Kassel and 47 venues in Athens, but the majority of the exhibits were spread across four institutions.

kassel

  1. Former underground station at the main train station
  2. New New Gallery (New Main Post)
  3. Tofu factory
  4. Gießhaus ( University of Kassel )
  5. Gottschalk-Halle (University of Kassel)
  6. Slaughterhouse cultural center
  7. Narrowcast House
  8. Nordstadtpark
  9. Henschel halls
  10. Glass pavilions on Kurt-Schumacher-Strasse
  11. Koenigsplatz
  12. Peppermint
  13. Friedrichsplatz
  14. Zwehrenturm
  15. Fridericianum
  16. Natural history museum in the Ottoneum
  17. Press and information center (former Leder Meid shop)
  18. Leather Meid Apartment
  19. documenta hall
  20. West pavilion (orangery)
  21. Karlsaue
  22. Kunsthochschule Kassel
  23. CineStar
  24. New gallery
  25. Palais Bellevue
  26. Grimmwelt Kassel and vineyard terraces
  27. Museum for Sepulchral Culture
  28. Hessian State Museum
  29. Gate guard
  30. Gloria cinema
  31. City Museum Kassel
  32. BALi cinemas
  33. Ballhaus
  34. Kassel-Wilhelmshöhe train station
  35. Filmladen Kassel e. V.

Athens (selection)

  1. National Museum of Contemporary Art EMST, (one of the four main exhibition venues)
  2. University of Fine Arts (ASFA) campus on Pireos-Straße, (one of the four main exhibition venues)
  3. Athens Conservatory , (one of the four main exhibition venues)
  4. Benaki Museum , (one of the four main exhibition venues)
  5. National Archaeological Museum
  6. First Athens Cemetery
  7. Agricultural University of Athens
  8. Agora of Athens - Odeion of Agrippa
  9. Piraeus Archaeological Museum
  10. Kotzia Square
  11. Megaron music hall
  12. Museum of Islamic Art, Benaki Museum
  13. Numismatic Museum
  14. Panathinaic Stadium
  15. Parko Eleftherias
  16. Polytechnic 8
  17. Stavropoulou 15, Amerikis Square
  18. Piraeus Municipal Theater
  19. Syntagma Square
  20. Trianon
  21. Stella Municipal Cinema
  22. Yannis Tsarouchis Foundation

Movies

literature

  • Quinn Latimer, Adam Szymczyk (eds.): The documenta 14 reader. Prestel Verlag, Munich, ISBN 978-3791356563 .
  • Quinn Latimer, Adam Szymczyk (eds.): Documenta 14th Daybook. Prestel Verlag, Munich, ISBN 978-3791356549 .

Web links

Commons : Documenta 14  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Niklas Maak: Controversy about Documenta 14 Looking for the south in Athens. FAZ.net, October 9, 2014, accessed April 22, 2017 .
  2. ^ Kulenkampff and Pfeffer new art bosses in Kassel . In: Hessische / Niedersächsische Allgemeine from April 12, 2013
  3. ↑ Finding committee is looking for a director of documenta 14 - accessed on April 18, 2013
  4. ^ After a million deficit : Documenta boss Kulenkampff leaves , Spiegel Online, November 27, 2011
  5. ^ Artistic director of documenta 14 presented ( Memento from February 10, 2015 in the Internet Archive ), accessed on January 16, 2014.
  6. ^ Philipp Meier: "Nobody needs the Documenta" Neue Zürcher Zeitung of August 3, 2017
  7. ^ Head of Szymczyk: documenta 14 also takes place in Athens , HNA.de from October 6, 2014
  8. ↑ Niklas Maak: Looking for the south in Athens. In: FAZ.net . October 9, 2014, accessed May 12, 2016 .
  9. ↑ Sabine Danek: No Corporate Design: How documenta 14 deals with its appearance. Retrieved September 4, 2017 .
  10. ^ The documenta 14 in Athens - clear criticism and a divided art scene. Retrieved on March 24, 2019 (German).
  11. ↑ documenta 14 - "Athens hardly noticed the documenta". Retrieved on March 24, 2019 (German).
  12. ↑ Head put money in the sand: documenta bankruptcy was already in sight hna.de, September 12, 2017
  13. ↑ Press release of the City of Kassel from September 12, 2017
  14. ↑ Financial fiasco: documenta 14 in Athens devoured over 7 million euros hna.de, September 13, 2017
  15. ↑ Suspicion of infidelity: Public prosecutor extends investigation against those responsible for Documenta , art magazine monopol , February 15, 2018
  16. ↑ It is allowed to muddle on , Neue Zürcher Zeitung , August 10, 2018
  17. ↑ a b 1.2 million documenta visitors in Kassel and Athens hessenschau.de, September 20, 2017
  18. ↑ a b The big bankruptcy of Documenta faz.net, September 17, 2017
  19. ↑ Press release of documenta 14 from September 19, 2017
  20. ↑ Πέρα από την καλλιτεχνική ελευθερία: Στα μισά της documenta 14 στο Κάσελ , CultureNow
  21. ↑ documenta 14 participants , Universes in Universe, accessed on April 6, 2017
  22. ↑ These are the artists of documenta , monopol magazin, accessed on April 7, 2017
  23. ↑ Public Radio - documenta 14 . documenta 14. Retrieved January 28, 2018.
  24. ^ Public exhibition - documenta 14. Accessed June 10, 2017 .