Docume nta 14 opens th is Saturday
Kassel in Germany is ready for the grand unveiling to the world of documenta 14 — and Thailand is represented
Alife-size replica of the Greek Parthenon built from banned books sits in a central square, a former military base is completely covered in jute charcoal sacks, and standing tall in the inner city is a 16m obelisk that reads “I was a stranger and you took me in” in four different languages.
The German city of Kassel is once again transforming itself to host documenta 14, opening this Saturday.
Taking place in Kassel every five years, documenta is considered one of Europe’s most important modern and contemporary art exhibitions which curates works from distinguished artists around the world, including Thailand. Its significance is on par with that of the Venice Biennale. However, with the long wait and boundary-pushing nature, it creates hype within the art world unlike any other.
Founded in 1955 by professor, artist and curator Arnold Bode, documenta was organised to bring Germany and its citizens up to date with modern art — banned during the Nazi regime for being “entartete kunst”, or “degenerate art”. If anything, documenta was (and still is) a political exhibition — a historical and cultural regeneration within the country.
“There is a strong sense of ownership over documenta in Germany,” said Henrik Folkerts, one of the curators of this year’s exhibition. “And it is often identified as a quintessentially German exhibition of contemporary art, despite its very international outlook.”
This year though, Kassel is only hosting half of the usual 100-day exhibition, running until Sept 17, as artistic director Adam Szymczyk (in a historic and controversial move) chose to hold the first half of the exhibition in Athens, Greece, and set this year’s theme as “Learning From Athens”. Despite much criticism, protests and even stolen artwork by activist groups, documenta 14 in Athens was, in a way, able to provide open discussion and much needed reflection between the relationships of both countries and the world as a whole.
With documenta finally returning to its home base, comfortable walking shoes and a map or GPS will come in handy as more than 30 public institutions from parks, post offices, squares, cinemas and universities will host new artworks (including performances, talks and activities) from more than 160 artists worldwide.
Szymczyk recommends visitors follow a route (available on the documenta website) starting at the Former Underground Train Station (KulturBahnhof ). A decommissioned train tunnel, the starting point leads to the “light at the end of the tunnel” which is the main documenta venue in Kassel’s Nordstadt.
With the exhibition still under wraps, highlighted artworks, except for those mentioned previously, are still largely unknown.
All the artworks have a curatorial thread which touch upon issues such as displacement and migration, the nation state, the rise of neo-fascism, alternative economics, indigeneity and much more.
“Artistic director Adam Szymczyk and the curatorial team that I am part of have been researching and travelling... meeting artists who share these concerns or who actively explore these issues in their work,” said Folkerts. The selection process takes a period of three years, which allows the selected artists another two years to research, develop and create new artworks for both Athens and Kassel.
“We’ve often invited artists whose work is not necessarily part of a mainstream market and gallery circuit,” continued Folkerts. “We hope to inspire, sometimes challenge and provoke our artists, always with the intent of generating their best work possible.”
One of these artists is Arin Rungjang, the only Thai who’s had the honour to be invited this year.
Arin will be in one of the main exhibits — Neue Hauptpost. And from what he described, his work is a highly layered three-part piece about the surprising history and relations between Thailand and Germany, and his personal life, which includes a video, sculpture, paintings and drawings (a detailed interview will come after documenta 14’s opening).
“When I first met Arin in Bangkok, he spoke about history as something malleable — almost a rumour or disputed fact,” said Folkerts. “He is interested in the bigger questions of history: how has colonialism informed the formation of the modern state; how has the notion of democracy shifted in meaning over time; where do oral history, personal experience and collective history overlap and diverge? In Kassel, Arin will develop work around the history of fascism — its symbols and afterlife. What is fact and what is developed as fiction remains the point of balance within these works, as is often the speculative reality of his practice.”
Working on the project for two years, Arin feels “good” that his message will be standing on the world stage.
“It’s a stage that many people are looking at, and the message that I’m presenting, a lot of people will listen and read it,” Arin said in a phone interview before flying off to Germany.
“What I have to think is that I have to be careful, and to do it well. Once it’s on a public forum, I have to be very detailed and sensitive. It’s good that I get to send out messages — and people can maybe understand more that Thai politics isn’t only just red and yellow. There’s a lot of complexities and political thoughts. There are issues regarding outsiders being involved throughout the whole time. And this has always been in my works before Golden Teardrop. It talks about how the world has separated ways of thinking into larger categories. But it’s not just blackand-white, democracy-and-communism. There are more complexities than that.”
With more than 160 artists offering critical and thought provoking works on some of the most relevant questions in the world today, documenta 14 will definitely open a new world for many visitors.
“I remember so well when I saw my first documenta in 2007 [documenta 12],” said Folkerts. “I had never seen such high density of artworks and public programmes offer such complexity and depth. It stayed with me for a very long time and provoked me to think beyond what I thought or had learned. That is the power of documenta — to research, reconsider, and quite bluntly be blown away by works of art that artists have produced over the course of years.”
That is the power of documenta: to research, reconsider, and quite bluntly be blown away