Neue Galerie, Kassel

Bauhaus and documenta are two globally successful cultural brands that stand for a cosmopolitan, innovative and modern Germany.

The lecture will look back on 25 years of curatorial mediation work within contemporary art and examine its relevance in the here and now.

The symposium deals with the implicit narratives of modernity of Bauhaus and the documenta exhibitions.

The first Virtual Exhibition created by the documenta archiv explores the question in which way Bauhaus concepts have inscribed themselves in the documenta idea.

The painter Fritz Winter (1905-1976) was present with a body of work at each of the first three documenta exhibitions.

Günther Becker’s familiar 1955 photograph of Wilhelm Lehmbruck’s Die Kniende (1911) in the rotunda of the Museum Fridericianum serves as an important record of documenta’s beginnings.

The system of art has changed decisively since the second half of the 19th century. Innovations by “independent” artists are recognized and supported by newly developed “patrons,” professions, and institutions.

We offer you a guided tour to our exhibition "In the documenta archiv #5 - “Please take off your shoes.” - Participatory art at documenta 5".

The archive’s connections to artistic and curatorial work are variegated and complex. While the idea of the archive, on the one hand, is informed and shaped by institutions dedicated to conservation, research, and exhibition,...

In view of the future documenta Institute and on the occasion of current developments in restoration and conservation science, the documenta archiv is organizing an international conference at the documenta-Halle, Kassel, from November 22 - 24, 2018.

The institution of the archive and the demands of the contemporary seem to stand in diametrical opposition to one another: How can the eternal past of that which is archived be connected with the fleeting present of the contemporary?

In the sixties of the 20th century, the first wave of the so-called participatory art took place. The fifth documenta in 1972, directed by Harald Szeemann (1933 - 2005), offered an important platform for this newly emerging art form.

“Please take off your shoes” was requested of people who wanted to have a look inside the red wooden pavilion that was created by the artists David Medalla and John Dugger in the garden of the Museum Fridericianum for documenta 5 in 1972.

We offer you a guided tour to our exhibition "In the documenta archiv #4 - documenta 1968 - a hot summer? - Documents from the preparation phase of documenta 4"

Which guiding concepts and leading intellectual figures characterize documenta? What influence on social do have established actors in the art world and the press? Which events, artists and works of art stand out?

The documenta archiv opens from 5 pm to 1 am for the Kassel Museum Night and offers a varied programme with guided tours, films and an art book antiquariat.

documenta 4 (1968) was advertised as the "youngest documenta ever". In retrospect, however, it appears less visionary than expected and her artistic position weakened by democratization processes.

Not only is the actual exhibition part of the representation of a documenta, but also its long preparation phase. Even before the opening, positions are taken, theories are posed and ...

We offer you a guided tour to our exhibition "In the documenta archiv #3 - Journey to the Planet Ars - artist portraits by Heinz Günter Mebusch".

Since the 1990s the documenta archiv owns an important collection of over 200 high-quality photographic artist portraits.

"Outsider Art" was represented for the first time at the 5th documenta in 1972 in the form of "artwork of the insane".

In the France of the 1968 years, it was common for academics to ask, “D’où parles-tu?” – “From where do you speak?,” by which was meant the theoretical and methodological location of the speaker(s).

We offer you a guided tour to our exhibition "In the documenta archiv #2". The guided tour takes place on May, 14th at 4 pm. Admission is free.

The French philosopher Jacques Derrida wrote in “Mal d’Archive”, 1995: “There is no political power without control of the archive, if not memory. Effective democratization can always be measured by this essential criterion...”