100 days, 100 nights

Was it really art? 

»No one will forget this exhibition that easily, « says the Hessenschau at the official end of documenta fifteen on September 25. That is probably true. A lot of good the ruangrupa had in mind with the concept of the exhibition: Lumbung, community, giving the global south space in the exclusive art world. And then came the opening - the most memorable thing was the anti-Semitic imagery, which immediately had to be removed, but for which no one wants to have been responsible. Sabine Schormann resigned, and an advisory committee was formed. Much of documenta fifteen revolved exclusively around the »spirals of escalation,« as Kulturzeit presenter Cécile Schortmann calls the incidents. Coverage of the actual art fell by the wayside. Yet the visitor areas were full at all times. 

In retrospect, opinions differed about what was shown. For the two art experts Anjelika Spöth and Karina Chernenko, the valuable approach of investing less money in high-caliber art and instead focusing on sustainable cooperation was a success. They were particularly enthusiastic about the works of the Haitian collective Atis Rezistans in the church of St. Kunigundis. They show the spirit of documenta fifteen - many works were made of car parts, they said - and invoked the guiding principle: »Stop pumping lots and lots of money into producing the works and use what you have on hand.«

Even Meron Mendel, director of the Anne Frank Educational Center and one of the biggest critics of this year's documenta, draws something positive from the world art exhibition: »I was lucky [...] to see some incredibly great works. For me, it was really a change of perspective. And that's really the great strength of this documenta. And I'll always keep that strength in mind, too, and not just the anti-Semitism scandal, when I look back on documenta fifteen.«

No end, just a reform

Some others, however, looked in vain for art at the collective-led documenta for themselves. Cécile Schortmann writes at ZDF: »One can argue about how well political activism and art go together. In addition to very convincing works, I also found some of the content too clumsy, artistically too striking, or bumbling. Like the Guernica Gaza cycle by the Palestinian collective Question of funding, which was also criticized for anti-Semitic motifs.« She also alludes to the responsibility dispute that emerged during the event. Opportunities and risks of collective work have to be weighed here, she said. 

Daniel Hauke, Hessenschau reporter, counters the fear that this could have been the last documenta. Everyone agrees that there will be a documenta again. But it urgently needs a reform, according to Hesse's Minister for Science and the Arts, Angela Dorn. »It's not a question of restricting artistic freedom, but there is a structural irresponsibility in documenta to some extent. And here you really have to look at who is actually wearing the hat here, who is doing what?« This was already the case five years ago, when five million euros were missing. If this reform succeeds, the documenta can be looked forward to again without reservations, analyzes Hauke optimistically. 

And so Sabine Schormann and Lord Mayor Christian Geselle also withdrew again to bid farewell to documenta: neither gave any interviews. »Kassel also needs rest,« is the conclusion of the Hessenschau.