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Adam Szymczyk and documenta 14

Adam Szymczyk, artistic head of documenta 14 in Athens and Kassel (Athens, 8. April – Kassel, 17. September 2017), during the press conference on 7. June 2017 in the Kongress Palais in Kassel.

Mediathek Sorted

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  • Ill. 1: Piotr Uklański - Piotr Uklański (*1968 Warsaw): Untitled (Fist), 2008. Steel pipe, paint, 1000 x 700 x 20 cm, 5. Berlin Biennale, 2008
  • Ill. 2:  Ania Molska - Ania Molska (*1983 Prudnik): Untitled, 2008. Metal, wood, 600 x 500 x 340 cm, 5. Berlin Biennale, 2008
  • Ill. 3:  Paulina Olowska - Paulina Olowska (*1976 Danzig): “Collaged Stryjeńska” exhibition, 5. Berlin Biennale, Schinkel Pavilion, 13.-29.6.2008
  • Ill. 4: The curators of documenta 14 - The curators of documenta 14 at the press conference on 7. June 2017 in the Kongress Palais in Kassel
  • Ill. 5a: Alina Szapocznikow - Alina Szapocznikow (1926-1973): Grand tumeur II, 1969; Tumeurs accumulées I, 1969/70
  • Ill. 5b: Alina Szapocznikow - Alina Szapocznikow (1926-1973): Souvenir I, 1971
  • Ill. 6: Arin Rungjang  - Arin Rungjang (*1975 Bangkok): 246247596248914102516... And then there were none (Democracy Monument), 2017
  • Ill. 7: Marta Minujín  - Marta Minujín (*1941 Buenos Aires): The Parthenon of Books, 2017
  • Ill. 8: Banu Cennetoğlu - Banu Cennetoğlu (*1970 Ankara): BEINGSAFEISSCARY, 2017
  • Ill. 9: Stelios Faitakis  - Stelios Faitakis (*1976 Athen): Fortunately absurdity is lost (but they haved hoped for much more), 2014
  • Ill. 10: Nikos Alexiou - Nikos Alexiou (1960-2011): The End, 2007
  • Ill. 11: Lucas Samaras - Lucas Samaras (*1936 Kastoria): Hebraic Embrace, 1991-2005
  • Ill. 12: Jannis Kounellis - Jannis Kounellis (1936-2017): Untitled, 1993. Coal, sacks, steel
  • Ill. 13: Yiannis Bouteas - Yiannis Bouteas (*1941 Kalamata): Untitled, 1974-80
  • Ill. 14: Costas Tsoclis - Costas Tsoclis (*1930 Athens): Harpooned Fish, 1985-2000
  • Ill. 15: Dimitris Alithinos - Dimitris Alithinos (*1945 Athens): A Happening, 1973
  • Ill. 16: Vlassis Caniaris - Vlassis Caniaris (1928-2011): Hopscotch, 1974
  • Ill. 17: Köken Ergun - Köken Ergun (*1976 Istanbul): I, Soldier, 2005
  • Ill. 18: Kendell Geers - Kendell Geers (* 1968 Johannesburg): Acropolis Redux (The Director’s Cut), 2004
  • Ill. 19: Danny Matthys - Danny Matthys (*1947 Zottegem): Brabantdam 59, Gent, Downstairs-Upstairs, 1975
  • Ill. 20: Piotr Kowalski - Piotr Kowalski (1927-2004): Perspective Dhuizon, 1970
  • Ill. 21: Andreas Angelidakis - Andreas Angelidakis (*1968 Athens): Polemos, 2017
  • Ill. 22: Zafos Xagoraris - Zafos Xagoraris (*1963 Athens): The Welcoming Gate, 2017
  • Ill. 23: Marina Gioti - Marina Gioti (*1972 Athens): The Secret School, 2009
  • Ill. 24: Piotr Uklański - Piotr Uklański (*1968 Warsaw): Real Nazis, 2017
  • Ill. 25a: Piotr Uklański  - Piotr Uklański (*1968 Warsaw) with McDermott & McGough, The Greek Way, 2017
  • Ill. 25b: Piotr Uklański  - Piotr Uklański (*1968 Warsaw) with McDermott & McGough: The Greek Way, 2017
  • Ill. 26: Artur Żmijewski  - Artur Żmijewski (*1966 Warsaw): Realism, 2017
  • Ill. 27: Artur Żmijewski  - Artur Żmijewski (*1966 Warsaw): Glimpse, 2016-17
  • Ill. 28a: Michel Auder - Michel Auder (*1945 Soissons): The Course of Empire, 2017
  • Ill. 28b: Michel Auder - Michel Auder (*1945 Soissons): The Course of Empire, 2017
  • Ill. 28c: Michel Auder - Michel Auder (*1945 Soissons): The Course of Empire, 2017
  • Ill. 29: Hiwa K - Hiwa K (*1975 Sulaimaniyya): When We Were Exhaling Images, 2017
  • Ill. 30a: Igo Diarra and La Medina - Igo Diarra (*1968 Bamako) and La Medina: Installation made from objects and archive materials on Ali Farka Touré, 2014-17
  • Abb. 30b: Igo Diarra und La Medina - Igo Diarra (*1968 Bamako) and La Medina: Installation made from objects and archive materials on Ali Farka Touré, 2014-17
  • Ill. 31: Beau Dick - Beau Dick (1955-2017): 21 masks from the series “Undersea Kingdom” (2016/17)
  • Ill. 32a: El Hadji Sy  - El Hadji Sy (*1954 Dakar): Disso – Concertation, 2016
  • Ill. 32b: Hadji Sy  - El Hadji Sy (*1954 Dakar): Disso – Concertation, 2016
  • Ill. 33a: Guillermo Galindo  - Guillermo Galindo (*1960 Mexiko-Stadt): Flightdestinationeuropedisastersoundbody, 2017
  • Ill. 33b: Guillermo Galindo - Guillermo Galindo (*1960 Mexiko-Stadt): Flightdestinationeuropedisastersoundbody, 2017
  • Ill. 33c: Guillermo Galindo - Guillermo Galindo (*1960 Mexiko-Stadt): Flightdestinationeuropedisastersoundbody, 2017
  • Ill. 34: Cecilia Vicuña - Cecilia Vicuña (*1948 Santiago de Chile): Quipu Gut, 2017
  • Ill. 35: Aboubakar Fofana - Aboubakar Fofana (*1967 Bamako): Fundi (Uprising), 2017
  • Ill. 36: Miriam Cahn - Miriam Cahn (*1949 Basel): KOENNTEICHSEIN, 2015-17
  • Ill. 37: Stanley Whitney - Stanley Whitney (*1946 Philadelphia): various works like “For Joy and Grief”, “Homa, Roma” etc. in a cabinet, 2017
  • Ill. 38: Marie Cool Fabio Balducci - Marie Cool Fabio Balducci (*1961 Valenciennes, *1964 Ostra): Untitled 2003-2011
  • Ill. 39a: Maria Eichhorn - Maria Eichhorn (*1962 Bamberg): Rose Valland Institute, 2017
  • Ill. 39b: Maria Eichhorn - Maria Eichhorn (*1962 Bamberg):  Rose Valland Institute, 2017
  • Ill. 40a: Pélagie Gbaguidi - Pélagie Gbaguidi (*1965 Dakar): The Missing Link. Decolonisation Education by Mrs Smiling Stone (2017)
  • Ill. 40b: Pélagie Gbaguidi - Pélagie Gbaguidi (*1965 Dakar): The Missing Link. Decolonisation Education by Mrs Smiling Stone (2017)
  • Ill. 41a: Y. Gianikian/A. Ricci Lucchi - Yervant Gianikian (*1942 Merano) and Angela Ricci Lucchi (*1942 Lugo di Romagna)
  • Ill. 41b: Y. Gianikian/A. R. Lucchi - Yervant Gianikian (*1942 Merano) and Angela Ricci Lucchi (*1942 Lugo di Romagna)
  • Ill. 42: Nilima Sheikh - Nilima Sheikh (*1945 Neu-Delhi): Terrain: Carrying Across, Leaving Behind, 2016-17
  • Ill. 43: A. Sprinkle/B. Stephens - Annie Sprinkle (*1954 Philadelphia) and Beth Stephens (*1960 Montgomery, West Virginia): Free Sidewalk Sex Clinic, 2017
  • Ill. 44a: Sergio Zevallos - Sergio Zevallos (*1962 Lima): A War Machine, 2017
  • Ill. 44b: Sergio Zevallos - Sergio Zevallos (*1962 Lima): A War Machine, 2017
  • Ill. 45 Elisabeth Wild - Elisabeth Wild (*1922 Wien): Fantasias, 2016-17
  • Ill. 46: Manthia Diawara  - Manthia Diawara, An Opera of the World, 2017
  • Ill. 47: Agnes Denes  - Agnes Denes
 (*1938 Budapest): The Living Pyramid, 2015/2017
  • Ill. 48: Ibrahim Mahama  - Ibrahim Mahama (*1987 Tamale): Check Point Sekondi Loco. 1901–2030, 2016/17
  • Adam Szymczyk - Hörspiel von "COSMO Radio po polsku" auf Deutsch - In Zusammenarbeit mit "COSMO Radio po polsku" präsentieren wir Hörspiele zu ausgewählten Themen unseres Portals.

    Adam Szymczyk - Hörspiel von "COSMO Radio po polsku" auf Deutsch

    In Zusammenarbeit mit "COSMO Radio po polsku" präsentieren wir Hörspiele zu ausgewählten Themen unseres Portals.
Adam Szymczyk, artistic head of documenta 14 in Athens and Kassel
Adam Szymczyk, artistic head of documenta 14 in Athens and Kassel (Athens, 8. April – Kassel, 17. September 2017), during the press conference on 7. June 2017 in the Kongress Palais in Kassel.

For the first time two venues at the Documenta

From the time he left Basel Szymczyk officially had two and a half years to prepare documenta 14 for its opening in June 2017. As early as the start of October 2014 it was already clear that he would also break with traditional forms of presentation. The organisation responsible for the exhibition (the documenta and Museum Fridericianum gGmbH) issued a press release and, in a lecture to students and teachers at the Kunsthochschule Kassel, Szymczyk made a surprising announcement that for the first time in its history since 1955 the exhibition would be presented in two places, Athens and Kassel. The press release announced that: “Instead of a single spectacle in a fixed place and a clear chronological structure, as is characteristic for major international exhibitions, documenta 14 will have two runs with a dynamic balance both chronologically and spatially”. Similar to Kassel in 1955, which was still trying to come to terms with the trauma of the destruction of National Socialism and the war, Athens is now the showplace for Europe’s economic crisis and a metaphor for the swiftly changing global situation. The Greek capital embodies the economic, political, social and cultural dilemmas which confront Europe today.

The working title for documenta 14 was “Learning from Athens”. According to the local press in Kassel it would be about the forms of solidarity and survival mechanisms that would help during the crisis. Szymczyk “is interested in all the efforts to overcome the crisis, i.e. in the grassroots movements and communities that reject, say, the rampant corruption and are trying to build something new.” He has made it clear “that his documenta should not drop into the Greek capital like a UFO… only to disappear once more.” He preferred rather to concentrate on cooperating with existing cultural initiatives and projects, “which are fighting to survive in difficult times”. He wanted to support these institutions and demonstrate his trust through collaboration. [12]

The division of the exhibition into two locations came as a surprise to the public at large. As Szymczyk wrote in a 700 page “Reader” for documenta 14, this concept had already been part of the project proposal which led to his appointment as artistic head. He had already made his first contacts with Athens in December 2013 and March 2014, where working groups were set up. After his plans were made known there were conflicting reactions both in Kassel and in Athens. In Greece it was feared that this would be “another major event without any sustainable effect” just like the Olympic Games in 2004.[13] The local Kassel population, conservatives and city business people predicted that the documenta would lose its cultural heritage to Athens.[14] But neither the Lord Mayor of Kassel nor the sponsors were willing to follow this argument. In the final analysis Athens was not only a flashpoint for “current, global challenges”, but also a “point of culmination for thousands of years of European culture”.[15] In addition, in 2002, documenta 11 had had platforms in Vienna, New Delhi, Berlin, St Lucia and Lagos; and documenta 13 in 2012 has had access to stations in Kabul, Cairo and Banff.

 

[12] Mark-Christian von Busse: Leiter Szymczyk: documenta 14 findet auch in Athen statt, Hessische/Niedersächsische Allgemeine, 7.10.1914, https://www.hna.de/kultur/documenta/kasseler-documenta-auch-athen-4056253.html . cf. also: Julia Voss: Exportweltmeister Deutschland geht nach Athen, Frankfurter Allgemeine, 8.10.2014, http://www.faz.net/aktuell/feuilleton/kunst/documenta-mit-zweitem-standbein-exportweltmeister-deutschland-geht-nach-athen-13196996.html

[13] Adam Szymczyk: 14: Iterabilität und Andersheit: Von Athen aus Lernen und agieren, in: Der documenta 14 Reader, Munich 2008, pages 19-21

[14] Niklas Maak: Streit um die Documenta 14. In Athen den Süden suchen, Frankfurter Allgemeine, 9.10.2014, http://www.faz.net/aktuell/feuilleton/streit-in-kassel-die-documenta-soll-nun-auch-nach-athen-13199214.html

[15] Ibid