Highlights from documenta 14
The 14th edition of documenta has opened in Kassel, Germany. Life pounded the streets to take in the glorious highlights
Who knew that appreciating art could be so physically exhausting?
Documenta, Europe’s most significant quinquennial art exhibition, finally launched its 14th edition in its home of Kassel, Germany, last Saturday after a historic run in Athens, Greece. Started in 1955 by professor, artist and curator Arnold Bode, documenta was founded in order to update the German people on modern art, banned by the Nazi regime during World War II.
The large-scale exhibition is known for pushing boundaries of art and politics — challenging, creating dialogue and opening up people’s minds to new thoughts and even histories. Garnering more attendees every iteration, last year saw more than 860,000 visitors flow into the small city (which only has a population of around 200,000 people) just to see the artwork alone.
This year, curators, artists, critics and art dealers weaved around the rain-soaked streets with maps in hand to hit as many of the more than 30 venues as possible. With the exhibition peppered around the whole city of Kassel and the sheer amount of artworks on view, it’s quite a workout to try to take it all in within a couple of days.
Some art critics say this year’s exhibition can be viewed within two days, however given the generally pessimistic theme (the artworks are mainly concerned about government, refugees, democracy, the economy, the financial crisis, etc.) and its physically fatiguing nature, it’s best if you are visiting to not try and view all of the artworks within just two to three days. It’s just simply too mentally and physically exhausting. If possible, it’s best to take time and enjoy the general vibe of the quiet city whilst taking in all of the art slowly.
If you haven’t got time to spare, Life has picked out some highly talked about artworks to check out.
ARTWORKS LOCATED AT THE FORMER UNDERGROUND TRAIN STATION (KULTURBAHNHOF)
Michel Auder, The Course Of Empire (2017)
Not to be missed are the installations inside Kassel’s unused underground train station, KulturBahnhof. It is hands down one of the coolest venues in the event. Visitors enter into a shipping container and literally walk through a hole in the floor — opening up to a rusty and rundown train station strategically placed with artworks. One stand-out piece includes French-artist Michel Auder’s The Course Of Empire.
The 14-channel video installation screens a collage of war, military invasions, consumption and industrial production, wasted towns, and more, commenting on the realities of nation-building and the rampant growth of capitalism and its effects.
ARTWORKS LOCATED AT FRIEDRICHSPLATZ Banu Cennetoglu, BEING SAFE IS SCARY (2017)
Usually the main venue of documenta, the Fredericianum Museum has broken tradition this year and stepped aside to become a work of art thanks to Turkish-born artist Banu Cennetoglu. On the neo-classical façade of the building, the paradoxical phrase “Being Safe Is Scary” is spelt out using the letters from the museum’s name in addition to newly-cast letters. The phrase is from graffiti seen near the National Technical University of Athens as of April 6, and engages in topics of facile sloganeering — a form of persuasion (used politically) by repeating phrases instead of explaining ideas.
The Fredericianum Museum itself is also worth walking through, as documenta has for the first time been loaned the collection of Greece’s National Museum of Contemporary Art to be displayed in Germany.
Daniel Knorr, Expiration Movement (2017)
On the other side of the Fredericianum Museum, its tower seems to be on fire as white smoke covers, bellows out and blends into the clouds above. Romanian-born, Berlin-based artist Daniel Korr turned the museum’s tower into a chimney, alluding to a multitude of concepts from the crematoriums at the Nazi concentration camps and the Nazi burning of books — emphasised by the fact that Nazis really did burn books at Friedrichsplatz. But the smoke could also mean letting go, freedom and also the process of electing a new pope. It all depends on how the viewer sees it.
Hiwa K, When We Were Exhaling Images (2017)
Iraqi-born artist Hiwa K’s installation is hard to miss. Standing in front of Documenta Halle are a set of giant yellow pipes stacked on top of each other. Inside each pipe’s interior is a home, decorated with household items like mattresses, potted plants, books and even toilets. The pipes of course scream about poverty, humanity and the refugee crisis in Europe, as well as the artist’s own experiences of living in one of these pipes after escaping northern Iraq.
ARTWORKS LOCATED IN DOCUMENTA HALLE
Guillermo Galindo, Sonic Borders 2 (2017)
Documenta Halle’s main showroom has a trove of gigantic installations hanging from its high ceiling. One piece, Sonic Borders 2 by Mexican artist Guillermo Galindo, is probably the most chilling. Hung from the ceiling are two large and broken remnants of boats used by refugees found on the Greek coasts. The art piece protests the conditions which the refugees have to go through, and from time to time, Galindo performs music on these two structures, using the sculptures as musical instruments, giving audiences both sight and sound to contemplate in.
ARTWORKS LOCATED AT NEUE NEUE GALERIE (NEUE HAUPTPOST)
Theo Eshetu, Atlas Fractured (2017)
Theo Eshetu takes advantage of the Neue Neue Galerie’s large industrial space and takes up a whole wall to project his massive video installation. The 35-minute video of talking heads is projected onto a giant banner of five traditional masks from the Ethnologisches Museum in Berlin-Dahlem. Eshetu seeks to criticise geopolitical divisions of the world and also create a “new world order” by superimposing faces of modern figures over historical and political figures of the world.
Maret Anne Sara, Pile O Sampi (2017)
The domineering curtain of reindeer skulls hanging from the Neue Neue Galerie isn’t just for shock factor, but to let audiences learn of the plight of the Sami — an indigenous Finno-Ugric people occupying northern Scandinavia and parts of Russia. Norwegian-Sami artist Maret Anne Sara takes the story of her brother’s fight against the Norwegian government’s culling of reindeers and disrespect of indigenous traditions, which essentially is the livelihood of the Sami people. Another part of the gallery also displays a large picture of the North American slaughter of bisons, a picture of severed reindeer heads stacked into a pyramid, and Sara’s beautiful reindeer skull necklace made of porcelain. Curator Candice Hopkins calls these artworks “anti-monuments”, revealing the history of brutality caused on the minority.
Arin Rungjang, 24627596248914102516... And Then There Were None (2017)
Hidden in the corner of the Neue Neue Galerie is the only Thai artist to exhibit in documenta. His multilayered and numerous artworks talk of many concepts, ranging from how historical information is distributed, and how power rests in the hands of those who write history, as well as Thai history and the afterlife of fascism. Most of all, he observes where oral history, personal experience and collective history overlap and diverge. Everything that the artist puts on the table is non-fiction and documented by history, thus Rungjang wants to present a comparison between the history taught in Thailand versus the history that he had found researching the relationship with Germany during World War II — specifically about a Thai ambassador’s mysteriously covered up ties with Adolf Hitler himself.
ARTWORKS LOCATED AT NEUE GALERIE
Maria Eichhorn, Unlawfully Acquired Books From Jewish Ownership (2017)
Maria Eichhorn’s installation is subtle but packs a huge punch. Placed in the middle of a large open room is a 6m-tall bookshelf filled to the brim with old, leather-bound books. These books, from the Berlin State Library, once belonged to Jewish people and were plundered by the Nazi regime. Until now, the rightful owners of these books have not been identified. Embodying a huge critical engagement, the installation reminds Germany of the crimes committed by the Nazi regime and criticises property issues concerning items that formerly belonged to the Jewish people. In addition to this work, Eichhorn launched “Open Call: Unlawful Ownership In Germany”, initiating a search for objects that the Nazis had confiscated.
ARTWORK LOCATED AT KONIGSPLATZ
Olu Oguibe, Monument For Strangers And Refugees (2017)
Many would probably fail to realise that the towering obelisk sitting in the middle of Kassel’s public square is a brand new artwork by Nigerian-born artist Olu Oguibe. The artist had inverted the symbolism which obelisks usually imply (as symbols of power by conquering nations), and instead writes in German, Turkish, Arabic and English, “I Was a Stranger and You Took Me In”, on all four sides. The beauty of this piece is not only its powerful symbolism, but the interactions and reactions that people have with it. Coincidently, many Arab immigrants would sit underneath the Arabic inscription, waiting for friends and family and making the obelisk come alive. It’s a certain atmosphere where you really have to be there to experience the magic.