Photo: Nicolas
Frankfurter Straße / Fünffenster¬straße (Unterführung), Kassel, 2022
Documenta countdown: one month to go until the opening
Kassel in metamorphosis
As the HNA announces, about a month before the start of the most important contemporary exhibition series in the world, one can guess how the city of Kassel will soon change - the outdoor venues are ready for the dress rehearsal and things are getting political.
May 18, 2022
Only 30 days to go: exactly one month before documenta starts, Kassel is slowly but surely embarking on its metamorphosis. The organizers announced the 32 locations last week. But until visitors find out exactly what will be happening inside the buildings of the world art exhibition, they can already scout out the outdoor venues and observe the preparations.
As always, one of the main players at documenta fifteen is the Fridericianum - dubbed as Fridskul during the event. Its pillars have been shining in black for a few weeks now, delivering political messages on topics such as sustainability or cohesion. According to the creator, Romanian artist Dan Perjovschi, the whole thing is supposed to have a childlike effect, like a school blackboard.
Photo: Nicolas Wefers
C&A Façade, Kassel, 2022
The C&A building on Opernplatz (photo) will soon make room for an oversized painted banner from the Indonesian Institute for Civic Culture. The Fulda will soon house a houseboat made from a demolished roof truss - it will get there from Berlin, using pure muscle power and renewable energies. The Karlswiese will become a showplace for garbage: a walk-in installation made of garbage will point out the transport of scrap metal and textiles to southern countries and thus the destruction of the environment. Sustainability also continues in the Nordstadtpark: A summer stage made of clay and other ecological materials is being created there.
Lumbung is the motto of documenta fifteen, an Indonesian term chosen for the event by the curating artist collective Ruangrupa from Jakarta. It stands for community, sharing, generosity and sustainability. The horizontal newsletter, which is to come about at Rainer-Dierichs-Platz, also ties in with this.
Photo: Jin Panji
ruangrupa, f.l.t.r. Reza Afisina, Indra Ameng, farid rakun, Daniella Fitria Praptono, Iswanto Hartono, Ajeng Nurul Aini, Ade Darmawan, Julia Sarisetiati, Mirwan Andan, 2019
Watching the outdoor setup is sure to be an exciting weekend activity for all Kassel residents - the outdoor exhibits are also available to ticketless individuals. With little amuse-gueules like the announcement of mixed-media sculptures in the church of St. Kunigundis »made of, among other things, human remains,« the organizers are making it hard for even the most art-averse to avoid documenta fifteen.
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One of the best-known »remnants« of documenta: the »Man walking to the sky« in front of the Kulturbahnhof in Kassel (documenta 9, 1992)
More on the subject Documenta Fifteen
Documenta fifteen: Résumé
100 days, 100 nights
September 26, 2022
Mixed feelings arise when thinking back on the last hundred days. The documenta attracted more criticism than probably ever before. Certainly, many artists made contributions to the »world art exhibition«. But the »spirals of escalation, « as Kulturzeit presenter Cécile Schortmann calls the incidents, cast a long shadow over documenta fifteen. The Hessenschau even asks, »Was it the last one? «
Documenta fifteen: Resignation of the General Director
Sabine Schormann: an overdue step?
July 18, 2022
In contrast to previous events, documenta fifteen made almost exclusively negative headlines with its opening. The banner installation People's Justice by the Indonesian collective Taring Padi shocked with anti-Semitic imagery. Excuses, apologies and restraint on the part of those involved now culminate in the resignation of (ex-)general director Schormann. Was this long overdue?
Dive deeper into the art world
Documenta opening | preview
The quiet documenta
More participants, more community, more liveliness - less pomp, less aesthetics, less waste: Tomorrow marks the start of documenta 15, with a collective holding the reins for the first time - forgoing million-dollar art in favor of building an ecosystem.
June 17, 2022
London, Tate Britain
»The 80s: Photographing Britain«
It was one of the most moving decades in the history of the United Kingdom: the 1980s, characterized by strikes, protests and AIDS. Photographers documented this period and in some cases became political activists themselves through their images. The exhibition The 80s: Photographing Britain opens on November 21 at the Tate Britain in London.
November 21, 2024
