Logo of Documenta 14
Early in July, I traveled to Europe to attend Documenta 14 with fellow Chapman Art Students. Documenta, which started over 60 years ago, is a curated exhibition that transpires every five years in the small industrial town of Kassel, Germany. This year Documenta was produced by Adam Szymczyk, who is known for the solo show of Sung Hwan Kim and the comprehensive exhibition in Europe of late American artist Lee Lozano. He also impressively co-curated the 2008 Berlin Biennale and helped organize shows in Europe including Rome’s Keats Shelley House and Istituto Svizzero.What is different this year is that Szymczyk has Documenta taking place simultaneously in Athens, Greece. Artists’ either replicated work twice, one for Kassel and one for Athens, or made a work very similar. This year the over arching themes of Documenta 14 is learning from Athens, post colonialism, immigration, destruction and/or rebuilding of culture.
The artwork that really stood out to me was George Hadjmichaliz’s piece called the Crossroad. The Crossroad where Oedipus Killed Laius. A Sescription and History of the Journey from Thebes to Corinth, Delphi, and the Return to Thebes. This work incorporates an iron table covered in dark black pigment and synthetic resin on nine steel plates, 64 gelatin silver prints, plus a video. The table itself encompasses a detailed map of the geography that appeared within the story. What spoke to me within this work was how Hadjmichaliz was able to describe the narrative through so many different mediums that each contributed a new take. The work also went through a shift of scale where the large table had super small details and the small prints had very close up shorts of the table. The video then brought the work to life on its small screen through panning shots. This piece gives me so much inspiration for my current research work by utilizing different scales and mediums to have conceptual aspects discovered throughout the work.
The event-taking place throughout the city of Kassel in museums, galleries, storefronts, and even an abandoned train station, has one exploring and re-contextualizing the pieces. This Documenta has raised many questions and criticism regarding the general bleak outlook on globalization and the state of the world, by not providing solutions. In an article by Jeni Fulton titled How Documenta 14 Failed Everyone but its Curators, states that with limited text available next to each art piece that it is taking away from the work, due to being in a post conceptual time in art, it is expected to have a concept that goes along with the work. I totally agree with this and think this is something that they should have provided to make a stronger exhibition. Even in the Documenta catalogue, little information was available that expanded on each artists’ work or themes.
It’s important to note that our group was much younger in comparison to the majority of other attendees at Documenta. The majority of the people I saw were large groups of older German couples about twice our age plus it was rare to hear other languages. However, I’m extremely grateful for the experience even though the curation and the pieces exhibited were not work that was enjoyable to view but allowed me the opportunity to utilize my education to be a critic of decisions that were made by the artists.
An aspect that I discovered engaging and specific to Documenta was the incorporation of sound pieces found in most of the locations. The installations ranged from a single speaker to a fully immersive work stripping away all of your other senses and only allowing sound to visualize the work. I believe sound works will become more common because of Documentas influences on the art world. I find this very exciting! It is a genre that hasn’t been tapped into successfully. My gears are turning in expanding my work into creating a sound piece. I can’t wait!!
