Documenta (often stylizeddocumenta) is anexhibition ofcontemporary art which takes place every five years inKassel, Germany.
Documenta was founded by artist, teacher and curatorArnold Bode in 1955 as part of theBundesgartenschau (Federal Horticultural Show) which took place in Kassel at that time.[1] It was an attempt to bring Germany up to speed with modern art, both banishing and repressing the cultural darkness ofNazism.[2] This first Documenta featured many artists who are generally considered to have had a significant influence on modern art (such asPicasso andKandinsky). The more recent editions of the event feature artists based across the world, but much of the art issite-specific.
Every Documenta is limited to 100 days of exhibition, which is why it is often referred to as the "museum of 100 days".[3] Documenta is not a selling exhibition.
Documenta, an invented word, reflects the intention of the exhibition (in particular of the first Documenta in 1955) to be adocumentation ofmodern art which was not available for the German public during the Nazi era. Rumour spread from those close to Arnold Bode that it was relevant for the coinage of the term that the Latin worddocumentum could be separated intodocere 'teach' andmens 'intellect', and therefore thought it to be a good word to describe the intention and the demand of Documenta.[4]
Each edition of Documenta has commissioned its own visual identity, most of which have conformed to the typographic style of solely using lowercase letters, which originated at theBauhaus.[5]
Art professor and designerArnold Bode from Kassel was the initiator of the first Documenta. Originally planned as a secondary event to accompany theBundesgartenschau, this attracted more than 130,000 visitors in 1955. The exhibition centred less on "contemporary art"—that is, art made after 1945—instead, Bode wanted to show the public works which had been known as "Entartete Kunst" in Germany during the Nazi era:Fauvism,Expressionism,Cubism,Blauer Reiter, Futurism andPittura Metafisica. Therefore,abstract art, in particular theabstract paintings of the 1920s and 1930s, was the focus of interest in this exhibition.
Over time, the focus shifted to contemporary art. At first, the show was limited to works from Europe, but soon covered works by artists from the Americas, Africa and Asia.4. documenta, the first ever to turn a profit, featured a selection ofpop art,minimal art andkinetic art.[6] Adopting the theme ofQuestioning Reality – Pictorial Worlds Today, the 1972 Documenta radically redefined what could be considered art by featuring minimal and conceptual art, marking a turning point in the public acceptance of those styles.[7] Also, it devoted a large section to the work ofAdolf Wolfli, the great Swiss outsider, then unknown.Joseph Beuys performed repeatedly under the auspices of his utopian Organization for Direct Democracy.[8] Additionally, the 1987 Documenta show signaled another important shift with the elevation of design to the realm of art – showing an openness to postmodern design.[9] Certain key political dates for wide-reaching social and cultural upheavals, such as 1945, 1968 or 1976/1977, became chronological markers ofdocumenta X (1997), along which art's political, social, cultural and aesthetic exploratory functions were traced.[10]Documenta11 was organized around themes like migration, urbanization and the post-colonial experience,[11] with documentary photography, film and video as well as works from far-flung locales holding the spotlight.[7] In 2012,documenta (13) was described as "ardently feminist, global and multimedia in approach and including works by dead artists and selected bits of ancient art".[2]
Documenta typically gives its artists at least two years to conceive and produce their projects, so the works are often elaborate and intellectually complex.[12] However, the participants are often not publicised before the very opening of the exhibition. Atdocumenta (13), the official list of artists was not released until the day the show opened.[13] Even though curators have often claimed to have gone outside the art market in their selection, participants have always included established artists. In thedocumenta (13), for example, art criticJerry Saltz identified more than a third of the artists represented byMarian Goodman Gallery in the show.[13]
Documenta's decision to feature some of its shows outside of Germany, in peripheral contexts has sparked numerous critical discussions that reaches an apogee around documenta14 which partly took place in Athens, Greece in 2017. Various critics raised concerns about the ways in which the institution's endorsement of Athens as a place of resistance and novelty entailed a patronizing Orientalist stance, linked to new forms of tourism and the enjoyment of underdeveloped sites of "crisis".[14]
In 2022, Documenta caused three separateanti-Semitism controversies: one revolving around the bannerPeopleʼs Justice (2002) by the Indonesian collectiveTaring Padi that contained anti-Semitic imagery; another on the inclusion of the Palestinian collective Question of Funding in the exhibition; and, lastly, the inclusion of a 1988 Palestinian liberation movement brochure by Burhan Karkoutly titledPresence des Femmes.[15][16][17] ArtistHito Steyerl pulled her work from the exhibition in protest to the first two instances, with managing director Sabine Schormann's departure as a consequence.[18] In response to the controversy spurred byPresence des Femmes, Documenta released a statement urging the artistic team to remove the drawings until they can be "appropriately contextualized"; scholars from the Archives of Women’s Struggles in Algeria stated: "[Presence des Femmes] was in solidarity by the Algerian women with the Palestinian people, in denouncing the crimes committed by the Israeli State. We would like this document, like many other texts or artworks in the world, to be placed in its historical and political context."[16]
In November 2023, Documenta receives the resignation letter of the remaining curators María Inés Rodríguez, Simon Njami, Gong Yan and Kathrin Rhomberg, after the resignation ofBracha L. Ettinger andRanjit Hoskote.[19] The letter precises "In the current circumstances we do not believe that there is a space in Germany for an open exchange of ideas and the development of complex and nuanced artistic approaches that documenta artists and curators deserve."[20]
Following the controversy, Documenta announced in November 2024 thatNaomi Beckwith, Deputy Director and Chief Curator of theSolomon R. Guggenheim Museum, had been selected as the curator for the sixteenth edition.[21]
The first fourdocumentas, organized by Arnold Bode, established the exhibition's international credentials. Since the fifth Documenta (1972), a new artistic director has been named for each Documenta exhibition by a committee of experts.Documenta 8 was put together in two years instead of the usual five. The original directors, Edy de Wilde andHarald Szeemann, were unable to get along and stepped down. They were replaced byManfred Schneckenburger,Edward F. Fry, Wulf Herzogenrath, Armin Zweite and Vittorio Fagone.[22]Coosje van Bruggen helped select artists fordocumenta 7, the 1982 edition.documenta IX's team of curators consisted ofJan Hoet, Piero Luigi Tazzi,Denys Zacharopoulos and Bart de Baere.[23] Fordocumenta XCatherine David was chosen as the first woman and the first non-German speaker to hold the post. It is also the first and unique time that its website Documenta x was conceived by a curator (swiss curatorSimon Lamunière) as a part of the exhibition. The first non-European director wasOkwui Enwezor forDocumenta11.[24]
The salary for the artistic director of Documenta is around €100,000 a year.[25]
| Title | Date | Director | Exhibitors | Exhibits | Visitors |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| documenta | 16 July – 18 September 1955 | Arnold Bode | 148 | 670 | 130,000 |
| II. documenta | 11 July – 11 October 1959 | Arnold Bode,Werner Haftmann | 338 | 1770 | 134,000 |
| documenta III | 27 June – 5 October 1964 | Arnold Bode, Werner Haftmann | 361 | 1450 | 200,000 |
| 4. documenta | 27 June – 6 October 1968 | 24-strongdocumenta council | 151 | 1000 | 220,000 |
| documenta 5 | 30 June – 8 October 1972 | Harald Szeemann | 218 | 820 | 228,621 |
| documenta 6 | 24 June – 2 October 1977 | Manfred Schneckenburger | 622 | 2700 | 343,410 |
| documenta 7 | 19 June – 28 September 1982 | Rudi Fuchs | 182 | 1000 | 378,691 |
| documenta 8 | 12 June – 20 September 1987 | Manfred Schneckenburger | 150 | 600 | 474,417 |
| documenta IX | 12 June – 20 September 1992 | Jan Hoet | 189 | 1000 | 603,456 |
| documenta X | 21 June – 28 September 1997 | Catherine David | 120 | 700 | 628,776 |
| documenta11 | 8 June – 15 September 2002 | Okwui Enwezor | 118 | 450 | 650,924 |
| documenta 12 | 16 June – 23 September 2007 | Roger M. Buergel/Ruth Noack[26] | 114 | over 500 | 754,301 |
| documenta (13) | 9 June – 16 September 2012 | Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev | 187[27] | 904,992[28] | |
| documenta 14 | 8 April – 16 July 2017 in Athens, Greece; 10 June – 17 September 2017 in Kassel | Adam Szymczyk | more than 160 | 1500 | 339,000 in Athens 891,500 in Kassel |
| documenta fifteen | 18 June 2022 – 25 September 2022 in Kassel | ruangrupa[29] | more than 67[30] | ||
| documenta 16 | 2027 | Naomi Beckwith[31] |
2012's edition was organized around a central node, the trans-Atlantic melding of two distinct individuals who first encountered each other in the "money-soaked deserts of theUnited Arab Emirates". As an organizing principle it is simultaneously a commentary on the romantic potentials of globalization and also a critique of how digital platforms can complicate or interrogate the nature of such relationships. Curatorial agents refer to the concept as possessing a "fricative potential for productive awkwardness," wherein a twosome is formed for the purposes of future exploration.[32]
Documenta is held in different venues in Kassel. Since 1955, the fixed venue has been theFridericianum. The documenta-Halle was built in 1992 fordocumenta IX and now houses some of the exhibitions. Other venues used for Documenta have included theKarlsaue park,Schloss Wilhelmshöhe, the Neue Galerie, theOttoneum and the Kulturzentrum Schlachthof. Though Okwui Enezor notably tried to subvert the euro-centric approach Documenta had taken, he instigated a series of five platforms before theDocumenta11 in Vienna, Berlin, New Delhi, St Lucia and Lagos, in an attempt to take Documenta into a new post-colonial, borderless space, from which experimental cultures could emerge.documenta 12 occupied five locations, including the Fridericianum, the Wilhelmshöhe castle park and the specially constructed "Aue-Pavillon", or meadow pavilion, designed by French firm Lacaton et Vassal.[33] Atdocumenta (13) in 2012 about a fifth of the works were unveiled in places like Kabul, Afghanistan and Banff, Canada.[12]
There are also a number of works that are usually presented outside, most notably in Friedrichsplatz, in front of the Fridericianum and the Karlsaue park. To handle the number of artworks atdocumenta IX, five connected temporary "trailers" in glass and corrugated metal were built in the Karlsaue.[34] Fordocumenta (13), French architects Anne Lacaton and Jean-Philippe Vassal constructed the temporary "Aue-Pavillon" in the park.
A few of the works exhibited at variousdocumentas remained as purchases in Kassel museums. They include7000 Eichen byJoseph Beuys;Rahmenbau (1977) by Haus-Rucker-Co;Laserscape Kassel (1977) byHorst H. Baumann;Traumschiff Tante Olga (1977) by Anatol Herzfeld;Vertikaler Erdkilometer byWalter De Maria;Spitzhacke (1982) byClaes Oldenburg;Man walking to the sky (1992) byJonathan Borofsky; andFremde (1992) byThomas Schütte (one part of the sculptures are installed on Rotes Palais at Friedrichsplatz,[35] the other on the roof of the Concert Hall inLübeck).
The extensive volume of material that is regularly generated on the occasion of this exhibition prompted Arnold Bode to create an archive in 1961. The heart of the archive’s collection comes from the files and materials of the Documenta organization. A continually expanding video and image archive is also part of the collection as are the independently organized bequests of Arnold Bode and artistHarry Kramer.
In 1992, on the occasion ofdocumenta IX, for the first time in the history of Documenta, more than half a million people traveled to Kassel.[36] The 2002 edition of Documenta attracted 650,000 visitors, more than triple Kassel's population.[37] In 2007,documenta 12 drew 754,000 paying visitors, with more than one-third of the visitors coming from abroad and guests from neighboring Netherlands, France, Belgium and Austria among the most numerous.[38] In 2012,documenta (13) had 904,992 visitors.[28]
In 2007, half of Documenta's budget of 19 million euros ($25.7 million) came from the city of Kassel, the state ofHessen and Germany'sKulturstiftung des Bundes. The rest came from sponsors, donors and ticket sales.[39]
Documenta 14’s budget was at 37 million euros ($40 million), spread between 2013 and 2018;[40] by the end of 2017, its deficit was expected to reach 5.4 million euros.[41] Overspending in Athens led to a liquidity shortfall of 7 million euros, forcing the shareholders of Documenta — the city of Kassel and the German state of Hesse — to step in with emergency loan guarantees worth 8 million euros.[41]
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