Kassel, Friday noon, a glass hall, the so-called Documenta hall, in it many journalists. The curiosity about the artistic direction of the next documenta is enormous, today one name should be announced, maybe even more.
This documenta. An exhibition of world renown - and somehow an absurdity. Each issue of the World Art Show is intended to celebrate the art of the present, to celebrate it in an almost antique spectacle, and at the same time to prove and invoke its relevance. This is becoming increasingly difficult, more and more impossible, the last exhibition in 2017 was very controversial, and everyone wants to know today who the next, the 15th Documenta, opens in June 2022.
"This energy"
So now it is clear. Not one will face the challenge, but ten, approximately. However, no curators in the classical sense. Because the Indonesian artist collective Ruangruppa was called. Acting as a clique to dominate the uncontrollable could actually make things easier. Or even more difficult. Each of them is boss or no one, as you see it.
But this group from Jakarta is trained to be constructive, also pragmatic, it has been working together for a long time, since the year 2000. In essence, it has about ten members, but a whole lot more.
The collective is known for its research projects on history, for example, often for the use of public space, it operates various facilities and projects, such as an online magazine, a gallery, an art biennale, a video biennale, a radio. In 2016, it co-curated an exhibition of public art in the Netherlands, and a year earlier, they set up a workshop in Arnhem to connect with the people of the city. Well, Kassel.
Two of the Ruangrupa people are in Documenta Hall, Ade Darmawan and Farid Rakun. Both of them emphasize that they have to get used to all this, the many media people, the attention, "to this energy". At some point after the press conference they are looking for a balcony to smoke.
In the interview, they emphasize that they first asked themselves in the group whether it was useful and useful for them to run this exhibition. They would have chosen it because they could now implement what they have been doing for a long time in a more global format.
Surprised by your choice? Not really. But that is not a disadvantage. On the one hand, after the last, in many ways problematic Documenta, everything should be different. And the new beginning will now be imported from Southeast Asia, a land of volcanoes, in which art, in a sense, is already long gone, less caught up in those debates being waged in the West. In addition, there are no curators in the traditional sense at work here.
On the other hand, Ruangrupa is likely to continue a development, a documentary activity that has long since become apparent. Because in Kassel, the social and social power of art is often maintained. And a favorite vocabulary of the art world will be even more important under this boardroom than ever: participation, ie participation, the involvement of people, groups, institutions.
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All this is going to be a journey, Darmawan and Rakun say, and as always, they are all about the method. But how do you expose a method?
Cooperations should therefore be closed, projects initiated, locally and worldwide, they would invite not only other artists and curators, but perhaps also economists, ecologists, lawyers, historians, many other people. In the end, however, everything should be considered in some form in Kassel. They have, they say, a "real art exhibition" in mind.
And yet it is probably different than usual, because they also say that they want to "enrich" the way we see with art, that it should be less a viewing and more a experiencing and experiencing.
Many museum shows, biennials, art fairs, in the opinion of the two Ruangrupa people have become in some ways "monstrous machines", even myth machines. They are in distribution, in the true spread of art. They want to think even more globally than their predecessors did. For Indonesia, for the Indonesian art scene Documenta had so far at least had no meaning.
Much more can not be said at this time. Only this: For Kassel, the members of Ruangrupa are definitely the new hope bearers.
Also nice moments
That was already clear before their names were announced this Friday and they were asked to the podium. For example, Angela Dorn, the new Hessian Minister of State for Science and the Arts, included in a few sentences terms such as charisma, joy, bang, courage, incentive. In June 2022 the next, the 15th Documenta will be opened. Three years is not much to organize a show that goes down in history. And less is never expected - not even from Ruangrupa.
The past Documenta was historically unpopular, at least among art critics. Her director, Adam Szymczyk, acted as the curator and art savior, subordinating the works to his political agenda, and in some cases even anti-democratic. Above all, he delivered an instructive, sometimes even banal or dilettantisch acting exhibition. And in two places, first in Athens and then as usual in Kassel, but just the double burden overwhelmed the organizers and especially many artists. You should surpass yourself twice. The Austrian artist Peter Friedl told the SPIEGEL at that time that he had completely renounced a second work: "It is already produced for this duplicate Documenta way too much and too fast." But he also said that the expectations of the show are now absurd, especially in Germany itself with its "world champion ambitions".
Of course, Szymzyk's Documenta also had her important and beautiful moments, her breathtaking works. The sound installation of Emeka Ogboh at the Athens Conservatory was one of them, he made a sounding room that was never completed and looks like an imposing concrete trench. Or the pictures of Miriam Cahn in Kassel, beguiling, brutal and confusing. The most popular photo motif in 2017 was the replica of the Athenian Parthenon in original dimensions and steel scaffolding.
Later, however, more was argued about the financial rather than the curatorial deficit of the Doppeldocumenta. It was about a few million euros. That was also significant. Because just about every new cultural building in Germany is more expensive than planned, and always it is so much more money. The Documenta, the country's largest intangible cultural institution, was almost criminalized because of the deficit. The budget for the upcoming Documenta should be increased significantly, so that in fact the always required world level can be achieved.
After the end of the previous Documenta came the dispute over a work to the obelisk, with which the Nigerian-American artist Olu Oguibe commented on dealing with refugees in public space. Subtle and unmistakable at the same time. The obelisk was to remain in Kassel, but where exactly there, it was unpleasantly long discussed. Then the AfD intervened, calling the work "disfigured art".
In 2022, perhaps less the Documenta will be on the test than this country and its dealings with art.