The Communal Art Movement
RUANGRUPA BRINGS AN INTERDISCIPLINARY APPROACH FOR THIS YEAR’S DOCUMENTA FIFTEEN THAT PAINTS A PICTURE OF THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN AN ARTS ORGANIZATION AND ITS COMMUNITY
For many art enthusiasts and artistic communities, documenta is one of the most important exhibitions of modern and contemporary art. The event takes place every five years in the city of Kassel in Germany and each documenta takes on a singular character from the ideas and concepts of its Artistic Director.
For this year’s edition of documenta, the Jakartabased artists collective ruangrupa was unanimously selected by the international documenta commission as the artistic director of documenta fifteen and appointed by the supervisory board. “We want to create a globally oriented, collaborative and interdisciplinary art and culture platform that will remain effective beyond the 100 days of documenta fifteen. Our curatorial approach strives for a different kind of collaborative model of resource use—in economic terms but also with regard to ideas, knowledge, programs and innovations,” explains ruangrupa in an official statement.
Quite appropriately, the Jakarta-based artist collective has built the foundation of documenta’s fifteenth edition on the core values and ideas of “lumbung,” the Indonesian term for a communal rice barn. This concept becomes the starting point of documenta fifteen from principles of collectivity, resource building and equitable distribution, which are pivotal factors in the curatorial work and iwill mpact the entire process.
In essence, the collective’s way of working is pretty much based on an alternative, communityoriented model of sustainability in ecological, social and economic terms— in which resources, ideas or knowledge are shared—as well as social participation. The idea of sustainability is also comprehensively considered in the exhibition planning in all its manifestations.
The exhibition will include works from many artists from around the world including Jimmie Durham,
Dan Perjovschi and many collectives. Iinterestingly, ruangrupa and the Artistic Team do not regard Kassel as an exhibition venue. Instead, the city is understood as an ekosistem (the Indonesian word for “ecosystem”): a mesh of social contexts in which documenta fifteen emerges and grows. The exhibition focuses on four areas of Kassel: Mitte, Fulda, Nordstadt and, for the first time in documenta’s history, the industrial district of Bettenhausen. documenta fifteen will run from June 18 to September 25, 2022.