International

^{Posted on Monday 24th September, 2007}

Documenta 12 – A Public Exhibition Contra A Biennale

By Akinyi Princess K’Orinda-Yimbo

^{Romuald Hazoumé (from Benin) won the Arnold Bode Prize 2007}

^{(seen here with one of his Documenta12 works – jerry cans in the shape of a West African musical instrument)}

^{The Documenta was initiated in 1955 by artist & educator Arnold Bode, in the city of Kassel. It is an event that occurs every five years and this year’s was the 12th exhibition, with about half a dozen African artists. After three and a half years of work, over 500 works of art have been gathered to be presented in 100 days in Kassel, between June 16-September 23 2007. The Documenta12 Advisory Board has linked the exhibition to the city, while Documenta12 magazines have supplied a network of over 100 editorial boards around the globe. What started out as a rather sparsely staffed team has grown to over 650 people.}

^{Most of the exhibited works were mainly in the photographic genre, some like David Goldblatt showing a series of black and white prints about the transportation means of Afroancestral people during apartheid South Africa. Other artists such as Abdoulaye Kounaté, working with textiles and colour, curiously chose the artist’s liberty to dwelt on the Middle East conflict. My impression was that the Documenta12 organisers kept things “modern” as opposed to “indigenous” Africa.}

The exhibition is concieved as a medium, a move away from representation towards production. Rather than simply lining up the “best artists of the world,” as the organisers term it, they have considered the format of the exhibition as a space in which both “art _{work” and “audience” challenge each other and are qualified. The three leitmotifs of the exhibition – questions on modernity, bare life and education – served as enabling fantasies. On the leitmotifs this year’s organisers maintain, “To initiate such a productive exchange, the documenta poses three questions for art, and also for its public: Is humanity able to recognise a common horizon beyond all differences? Is art the medium for this knowledge? What is to be done, what do we have to learn in order to cope intellectually and spiritually with globalisation? Is that a question of aesthetic education and cultivation? What constitutes life, when everything is subtracted which does not belong essentially to life? Does art help us to penetrate to what is essential?”}

_{Generally, individual or groups of work can be connected to more than one of the leitmotifs. As a traceable movement of form from one place to another through geography, time and media, the migration of form shows at the very least that globalisation is an old phenomenon. As a curatorial concept, it is a way to create speculative relationships between works of art. Rather than privileging correct interpretation, the main aim was to free individual works from what the organisers termed “over-determined and over-determining, stale, identity-based perceptions."}

Citoyenne, 1997 (Romuald Hazoumé)

^{Citoyenne, 1997 (Romuald Hazoumé)}

Dogon, 1996 (Romuald Hazoumé)

^{Dogon, 1996 (Romuald Hazoumé)}

_{What I found particularly interesting were Osodi’s portrayal of Africa’s wealth and poverty co-existing, the amazing creations of self-taught great African designer of haute couture, Omou Sy of Senegal, and the Documenta’s educational programme. There were guided tours for school classes, groups of children or young people and adults. These were conducted daily and could be booked in advance or decided on spontaneously, with a maximum of 15 people, lasting at least two hours. Plus an experimental format in which pupils from local schools guided adults through the exhibition for the duration of 90 minutes, free of charge.}

_{Representing the Artistic Director Roger Buergel and the Curator Ruth Noack for my interview was Elena Zanichelli, responsible for Communication & Press work.}

What I found particularly

^{_{Akinyi Princess K’Orinda-Yimbo:}}	^{_{Ms Zanichelli, could you reveal to us on which criterion the artists participating in Documenta are selected?}}
^{_{Elena Zanichelli:}}	^{_{The Artistic Director of the Documenta12, who is chosen every five years, selects the artists taking part in the exhibition according to his/her concept. In particular, Roger M Buergel and Ruth Noack, respectively the Artistic Director and the Curator of Documenta12 conceived, to quote them, “… the exhibition as a medium. This takes us a wa y fr om the mere representation of the ‘world’s best artists’ to the production of an experiential space in which it is possible to explore the terms ‘art work’ and ‘public’ in stark juxtaposition. What is contemporary art? What is a contemporary public? The experience of art is al wa ys the experience of life. If we wish to redefine this relationship we require a medium to remove us fr om our immediate ‘living context’. The aesthetic experience which begins where meaning in the conventional sense ends, could be such a medium.” Based on these considerations, the exhibition has furthermore three leitmotifs: Is modernity our antiquity? What is bare life? and What is to be done? in terms of education.}}
^_APKY:	^{_{I’m afraid I could not personally exchange a word with the artists fr om my continent and solicit their opinion. But do you think the African artist feels adequately represented in the exhibition?}}
^_EZ:	^{_{Documenta12 is showing different works by artists, architects and photographers living and working in Africa, for example David Aradeon, J.D. ‘Okhai Ojeikere – both fr om Lagos, David Goldblatt, Churchill Madikida – both of them fr om Johannesburg, Guy Tillim fr om Cape Town, Omou Sy fr om Dakar, Bill Kouélany of Brazzaville. Cosima von Bonin wa s born in M om basa. Furthermore there are works dealing critically with the role of the German Reich in the colonial history: Dierk Schmidt’s work deals with the Berlin Africa Conference of 1884/85, that culminated in the 14 participating states agreeing to the so-called General Act. Last but not least, last Saturday the Documenta12 artist R om uald Hazoumé fr om Benin received the Arnold Bode Prize 2007.}}
^_APKY:	^{_{How can a continent, Africa, have her best represented by a private collection?}}
^_EZ:	^{_{(skirting the question) This is my personal opinion regarding your question, since Documenta is a public exhibition. [From a private collection we are assured of] Seeing so many different works as possible! Travelling, talking with artists, et cetera, to specify the main issues of the collection with a well-grounded choice based on historical as well as contemporary positions and their influences.}}
^_APKY:	^{_{I notice that you have about half a dozen artists of African descent and from Africa, among a total of 112 participants worldwide. The next Documenta will be in 2012. Have the organisers taken any specific action in order to ensure not only the participation of African artists but also that the African parity is adequate? I mean compared to Africa in geographical size, Europe fits in a single African country – the DRCongo. Shouldn’t there be a greater number of participants representing Africa?}}
^_EZ:	^{_{It is the artistic director who will chose the artists participating in the next Documenta. He/she has not been nominated yet.}}
^_APKY:	^{_{I’ll keep a lookout for him/her. But could you enlighten us on whether the Documenta, considering its initial mission statement, is actually limiting the African participation?}}
^_EZ:	^{_{Since the Documenta is not a Biennial based on national participations – and in addition to that, it was not Roger Buergel and Ruth Noack’s aim to (dis)favour geopolitical identity – Documenta is definitely not limiting African participation.}}
^_APKY:	^{_{That sounds a bit like a detour from my first question, where you stated that the artistic director and the curator selects the artists taking part in the exhibition according to his/her concept. But to get ahead and keep on your schedule, I have one last question. Documenta was described by a respected European newspaper as being the worst art show ever. What made the writer so critical?}}
^_EZ:	^{_{No comments.}}