You can dump it — but it is still art
Why Documenta Fifteen is worth a visit, in spite of everything
Wunderkammer Exhibit #11
I was curious, but also skeptical, when I learned an Indonesian artists collective known as Ruangrupa would curate this summer’s Documenta Fifteen in the western German city of Kassel. It is the first time that the curator is not a single individual. With the show halfway over (it concludes Sept. 25), one thing is certain: that experiment has failed. Still, the Documenta is a key event for the world of contemporary art, and worth seeing if you get a chance.
The Documenta is held every five years, and the guiding idea of this installment fits the times. It is called Lumbung, and Indonesian word for communal rice barn. In a broader sense, the term stands for communal management for the benefit of all. So, if community is to be the conceptual thread, it seems obvious and consistent to have a collective of artists curate the exhibition.
However, the curating process has to be organized in a transparent way.
Which issues will be addressed? Which topics are deliberately excluded? Are there uniform criteria for the selection of artists and works? Who defines them? Who reviews the works submitted or created for the show? And when does all of this happen? Anyone who has ever done conceptual work for media projects or exhibitions knows that the process is crucial.
In principle, I think it’s good and important to bring in different perspectives, to listen to the audience, and to profit from the knowledge and skills of experts when developing concepts. However, I have great reservations about democratic grassroots processes in which the lowest common denominator prevails. At best, what emerges is a pleasing compromise. At worst, an unbearable cacophony.
The flaws of a grassroot process
The smorgasbord of works on view at Documenta is more of the latter. The curating community was dysfunctional. The show illustrates what happens when one collective invites other collectives to create an exhibition and there is no one to intervene and analyze, evaluate, structure, reference, and maintain.
When some elements of the show were revealed to display antisemitic content, the way they were handled became symptomatic of a process in which many voices have something to say, but no one feels ultimately accountable . I do not believe that members of the Ruangrupa collective are antisemitic. Neither are all the members of the Taring Padi collective. Their artwork “People’s Justice” was found to contain antisemitic imagery, and was subsequently removed from a square in central Kassel.
Sabine Schormann, the general director of Documenta, is not antisemitic either. Unfortunately, she was late in taking responsibility for the absence of clear curatorial guidelines and the communication disaster that resulted from not speaking out immediately and clearly against the offensive symbolism.
I visited many of the exhibition venues during the preview in June, and I definitely discovered some interesting works of art (see my personal favorites below). Still, there was much where I could see neither conceptual clarity nor artistic craft. Like many others, I also found myself asking, “Is this art, or can I throw it away?” I often failed to grasp what qualities made an artwork suitable for this Documenta.
In an industrial complex called the Hübner Areal, I was so overwhelmed by the absolute arbitrariness of everything that I became dizzy. Okay. You can take the position that everyone is an artist, as Joseph Beuys once said. Or agree with Marcel Duchamp, that art is what the artist says it is, even if it is a signed urinal.
But are the artists and artworks shown at this Documeta truly relevant? Is this selection what a contemporary “world art show” should display? My answers would be “yes.” Why? Because we can learn a lot from this Documenta.
Here are my takeaways
1. Collectives also need curatorial guidelines and a defined process. Otherwise exhibitions end in chaos. The squeaky wheel gets the grease. Oversights by a few get the most public attention and they discredit the committed majority.
2. The “global south” opens new perspectives and wants to be seen: Most of the work originated in countries in the southern hemisphere. But our aesthetic sensibilities are largely Westernized. We art lovers travel to Paris, Venice, Madrid, Vienna, Oslo, New York and Miami to see exhibitions, and we simply ignore the part of the world that cannot afford all of this. This Documenta begins to rectify the situation.
3. The general public likes low-threshold access to art, and doesn’t care about the elites’ opinion:The visitor figures at the halfway point are impressive. More than 410,000 people have seen Documenta in its first 50 days. Listening to young people at the exhibition, it was clear they liked the overt political and social undertones of the artwork.
4. Art needs new places and public spaces need art: By opening up new spaces beyond museums for the presentation of artworks, exhibition organizers created interesting backdrops for the artwork and at the same while enhancing areas beyond the city centers.
5. If you want to have a dialogue you should have an opinion and then listen. Some members of Ruangrupa moved to Kassel with their families to prepare the exhibition, and interact with local residents. Visitors can experience a variety of specific ways of interacting with the environment and other people, which the organizers have given descriptive names such as “Harvest” and “Nongkrong” which is the art of hanging out.
And here are some of my favorite spaces and artworks
Documenta Halle
Entrance by Wajukuu Art Project
Installation by Raychel Carrión for INSTAR (Instituto de Artivismo Hannah Arendt)
Fridericianum
Entrance columns by Dan Perjovsh (who a few days ago published a print with the title “SO WHAT? NEXT DOCUMENTA WILL BE CURATED BY BUNDESTAG?”
four films by Sada [regroup], mixed media tapestry “Out of Egypt” by Malgorzata Mirga-Tas
“Paintings on Metal” by Selma Selman in the tower
Museum of Natural History Ottoneum
Overall concept and display by ikkibawiKrr
St. Kunigundis
Overall concept Atis Rezistans | Ghetto Biennale, “The floating Ghetto” (under the ceiling) by Vivian Chan, André Eugène, Leah Gordon
Museum for Sepulchral Culture
“Manifold” by Eric Beltrán (exhibition, accompanying audio recording and newspaper)
Hallenbad Ost:
Overall concept, prints, tapestry by Taring Padi, Photo Frank Sperling for Documenta
Stadtmuseum Kassel
Staging and films by FAFSWAG
ruruHaus, basement: Beeholder — Beecoin by ZK/U and KUNSTrePUBLIK
Plan your visit
The Documenta Fifteen lasts 100 days and can be visited until September 25. The exhibitions are to be seen at 32 venues throughout the city of Kassel. If you decide to go, you should plan to stay up to three days to commute from one place to another and enjoy a little bit of Kassel too.
All Documenta venues at a glance
Post scriptum: I look forward to the next Documenta in five years, which hopefully will be curated by an experienced curator with a clear vision. He/she/they should, of course, be in dialogue with other experts who have in-depth knowledge of artists and issues societies are facing in different regions of the world.
