Andreas Ragnar Kassapis / Photo Mathias Voelzke
Founded in 1955 by artist and curator Arnold Bode and running every 5 years, this year’s Documenta in its iterative 14th edition, started in Athens, now just closed, and continues in Kassel, its traditional base, through September 17.
Despite its aspect obscura in everything from its invented name, its horticulture association, its relative infrequency and even in its Samuel Beckett inspired press materials, Documenta has succeeded in resisting the founding era ban on modern art and has grown to receive nearly a million people. The previous edition in 2012 clocked in over 900,000 visitors.
Aboubakar Fofana / Photo Roman März
Aboubakar Fofana, Fundi (Uprising), 2017, various materials, installation view, Documenta Halle, Kassel, Documenta 14.
Roger Bernat / Photo Mathias Völzke
Roger Bernat, The Place of the Thing, 2017, installation view, Neue Neue Galerie (Neue Hauptpost), Kassel, Documenta 14.
Nevin Aladağ / Photo Michael Nast
Nevin Aladağ, Jali, 2017, glazed ceramics, installation view, Hessisches Landesmuseum, Kassel, Documenta 14, © Nevin Aladağ/VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2017.
Nairy Baghramian / Photo Michael Nast
Nairy Baghramian, The Iron Table (Homage to Jane Bowles), 2002, various materials, installation view, Hessisches Landesmuseum, Kassel, Documenta 14.
Naeem Mohaiemen / Photo Mathias Völzke
Naeem Mohaiemen, Tripoli Cancelled, 2017, digital video, installation view, EMST – National Museum of Contemporary Art, Athens, Documenta 14.
Hans Eijkelboom / Photo Michael Nast
Hans Eijkelboom, Photo Notes 1992–2017, 2017, inkjet prints, installation view, Stadtmuseum Kassel, Kassel, Documenta 14.
Edi Hila
Edi Hila / Photo Michael Nast
Edi Hila, Boulevard 1-6, 2015, oil on canvas, installation view (detail), Torwache, Kassel, Documenta 14.
The less than glamorous locale of Kassel, though centrally located in Germany and home of the other Neue Galerie, continues to indulge Documenta’s highly intellectual curatorial principles and presents a most worthy line up, continuing in the tradition of one of the largest and most respected art fairs in the world.
Documenta 14
Curated by Adam Szymczyk
April 8 – September 17, 2017 / Athens & Kassel
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