Kassel is a city located almost in the center of Germany so you can access by train from major cities such as Köln, Frankfurt (closest to Kassel about 1 hr 40 mins), Berlin, Hamburg and Munich where I traveled from. The reason why I went there was to see Documenta, an important international exhibition of contemporary art. Once every five year since 1955, the documenta lasts 100 days featuring many artists from all over the world curated by guest curators. The 12th documenta was co-curated by the husband-and-wife team Roger M. Buergel and Ruth Noack.
Maybe because I arrived in documenta on the first day of public opening, lines were long and all pavilions were flooded with people. I got a 2-day pass otherwise there would be no way to enable to see all of the artworks spread out among 4 museums and a temporarily built exhibition hall. In addtion to these main buildings, some on-site installations were scattered throughout the city and even in Spain. This is the entrance of the exhibition hall Aue-Pavillon.
I was attracted to the uniform that the documenta staff wore at each site. Local high school students participate in this international art event as exhibition tour guides emboding one of the documenta's three leitmotifs "What is to be done?" concerning education in arts. I truly like the way of involving the community such as these youth not just training but also having them as role-players to open discussions with the audience than answering artsy questions.
Another clothing I was drawn into...was a tshirt that this Chinese girl was wearing. It reads Trained to Kill Sticky Boyfriends.
I asked her where she got it and her boyfriend answered me "China." She is looking at Zheng Guogu (b.1970 in Yangjiang, China)'s Water fall. I was wondering if they were part of 1001 Chinese citizens invited by the artist Ai Weiwei as his performance called Fairytale. There were also 1001 wooden stools from the Quing dynasty that Mr. Ai has collected and brought to documenta. These chairs were situated throughout the pavilions comforting the audence with backache and fatigue from this immense art event.
OK. Here are some artworks I picked.
I found one video by Tseng Yu-Chin (b. 1978 in Taipei, Taiwan) interesing. The work "Who's Listening? 1" (2003-2004) has school boys and girls one by one in front of a concrete wall and a splash of yogurt falls on their faces and hair while they are waiting. Having some sound of giggling and harsh breathing, the film seemed to me very innocent, valunable and suggestive.
There are many video works but not too many. It was a nice mixture with other media, painting, drawing, photograph, sculpture, installation, sound and performance.
Atsuko Tanaka (b. 1932 in Osaka, d. 2005 in Asuka), Work, 1955; Atsuko Tanaka, Electric Dress, 1956.
Trisha Brown (b. 1936 in Aberdeen, US and lives in New York), Floor of the Forest, 2007 (first installation & performance in 1970)
Installation view in the documenta Halle.
Cosima von Bonin (b. 1962 in Mombasa, Kenya, lives in Cologne), Löwe im Bonsaiwald (Bonsai Forest), 2007
I am looking forward to seeing her more work at Friedrich Petzel Gallery in NY!
Anonym, A Courtesan dressing her hair, ca. 1900, India, and Hokusai Katsushika (1760-1849, Japan), Sample Design from Banshoku Zuko, 1835. I liked this minimal contrast not exhibiting Hokusai's most known colorful woodprint or Indian miniture painting.
Nedko Solakov (b.1957, Cherven Briag, Bulgaria, lives in Sofia, Bulgaria), Fears, 2007. There were a series of his recent intimate drawings and a video work along with a index card file made in 1989-80 as recollection of his work for the Bulgarian Secret Service in the early 80s. I saw a few more drawings at Galerie Arndt & Partner in Berlin afterward and really like this guy's work... Hopefully more work can been seen in the US soon.
Kerry James Marshall (b. 1955 in Bermingham, US, lives in Chicago), Garden Party, 2003-2007.
And...of course, Lin Yilin (b.1964, Guangzhou, China, lives in New York) was there! Safely Manoeuvring across Lin He Road, 1995.
Lin Yilin also did a special performance of rope pulling between 32 people from Kassel and 32 visitors of documenta 12 through a hole in the lower center of a concrete wall built in the park. Unfortunately, because I arrived there pretty late, the performance was about to end but it seemed all the participants and audience enjoyed a lot. During the busy press interviews, I briefly talked with him congratulating his success in documenta. He looked very happy. Lin is one of the great artists whom I worked with in the past and always wish their successful careers in art.
As I have read reviews on Documenta 12 currently circulating, I sometimes see a common word like 'confusion.' Also reflecting upon other two exhibition themes "Is modernity our antiquity?" and "What is bare life?" stated by the curators in the catalog and its website, this documenta is ultimately open-ended without answers. If this is their intention, it accomplished the mission.
If not, we will be responsible too for figuring something out from this confusion that inspired me to think our past, present and future. Documenta 12 runs through September 23.
