Exhibition visit Kassel
documenta 15
One of the most important exhibtions of contmeporary art worldwide, documenta was created in 1955 by professor, curator and painter Arnold Bode. This year documenta marks its 15th iteration in Kassel where this year field school students were fortunate enough to attend. The exhibition lasts 100 days and occurs every 5 years. The title Documenta is derived from Latin and was constructed by Bode鈥檚 attempt to 鈥渄ocument the art world,鈥 specifically after a time of warfare, poverty and trauma. He collected art deemed degenerate art during the Nazi regime and shed light to important artistic works in the same collective space. There continues to be an archive of each Documenta to show the progression and parallels of art history and documents them in time for preservation and archive.
This year's artistic director(s) Ruangrupa (鈥渁rt space鈥 or 鈥渟patial form鈥) are a Jakarta-based artists鈥 collective where they base their values and ideas on Lumbung (鈥渞ich barn鈥). Lumbung 鈥渞efers to a communal building in rural Indonesia where a community鈥檚 harvest is gathered, stored and distributed according to jointly determined criteria as a pooled resource for the future鈥 (documenta). Principles of 鈥渃ollectively, resource building, equitable distribution鈥 and sustainability exist at the core of Jakarta traditions and are shared with Documenta for cross-cultural inspiration. The students were able to freely tour the city's exhibition at their own pace, exploring alongside other students and artists and sharing their experiences with one another. The students note in their journal of works that fascinated them or challenged their ideologies.
The students had an amazing time staying at a local hostel in Kassel and sharing experiences with other artists staying there for documenta. Touring the city's exhibition by day and celebrating together by night, the field school took part in a truly remarkable moment of documenta. Visit documenta 15s official website to browse through the participating artist and further information on this year's exhibition:
