Revisitations: Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev in conversation with Mario García Torres

Revisitations: (Re)encounters and new perspectives

Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev (Artistic Director of dOCUMENTA (13)) in conversation with artist Mario García Torres

Moderated by Daniel Völzke (Monopol – Magazin für Kunst und Leben)

Historic or imaginary encounters, (hi)stories and how they resonate in the present day are central motifs in the work of Mexican artist Mario García Torres. For his video work Have You Ever Seen the Snow? (2010), on show for the first time at dOCUMENTA (13) (2012) at the Fridericianum, he undertook years of archive research, tracing the work of Italian Arte Povera artist Alighiero Boetti (1940–1994) in the Afghan capital of Kabul. Boetti, who himself took part in documenta 5 and 7 featuring posthumously at dOCUMENTA (13), ran the One Hotel there between 1971 and 1979 and, as a “dropout” far removed from the art world, developed some of his most important groups of works. Using the medium of documentary film, García Torres circles around the historic site of the artists’ hotel, reflecting on the upheavals in everyday and political life after September 11, 2001, and blurring the boundaries between reconstruction, hypothesis, and fictional narrative.

As a further bridge between the then documenta locations of Kabul and Kassel, Mario García Torres also published his reflections on the art of hospitality in the form of an essayistic notebook in the series 100 Notizen 100 Gedanken. His documenta contribution Have You Ever Seen the Snow? now returns to Kassel as part of the current solo exhibition Mario García Torres: A History of Influence.

The Fridericianum and the documenta archiv are delighted to welcome Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev, Artistic Direction of dOCUMENTA (13), and Mario García Torres to a joint discussion at the Fridericianum as the opening event of the Revisitations series. In addition to their fascination with Boetti and Arte Povera, they also share a long history of collaboration dating back to the early conceptual phase of dOCUMENTA (13), which has continued in numerous projects and dialogues. In conversation, they offer a personal perspective on artistic processes, curatorial decisions, and the role of art in times of political and social change. An evening about shared paths, artistic practice, and reflections on memory and the future.

Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev works as a freelance curator and author in Turin, New York, and Velletri. Until 2023, she was Director of the Castello di Rivoli – Museo d’Arte Contemporeana and Artistic Director of the Fondazione Francesco Federico Cerruti in Turin. In addition to dOCUMENTA (13) (2012) and numerous thematic group and solo exhibitions, her decades-long curatorial career has included directing the 14th Istanbul Biennial (2014/2016) and the 16th Biennale in Sydney. Her teaching activities have taken her, among other places, to Harvard University, the University of Leeds, Goethe University Frankfurt am Main, Cooper Union (New York), and Lesley University, Boston. In 2015, she was awarded the Hessian Culture Prize for her work as Artistic Direction of dOCUMENTA (13). Her most recent exhibition projects focused on the work of William Kentridge (Arsenale, Venice, 2024) and the art of Arte Povera (Bourse de Commerce, Paris, 2024). An exhibition with the working title On Angels. Transcendence and Immanence is currently in preparation for 2027 at the Rockbund Art Museum (Shanghai).

García Torres’s institutional solo exhibitions include those at the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam (2007), at Kunsthalle Zürich (2008), the CCA Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts in San Francisco (2009), the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive (2009), the Galerie Nationale de Jeu de Paume in Paris (2009), the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía in Madrid (2010), the Museo d’Arte Contemporanea Donna Regina in Naples (2013), the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles (2014), the Pérez Art Museum in Miami (2014), the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth (2015), the Museo Tamayo in Mexico City (2016), at TBA21 Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary in Vienna (2016), the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis (2018), the Wiels Center for Contemporary Art in Brussels (2019), the Museo Jumex in Mexico City (2020), the MARCO Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Monterrey (2021), and at Arte Abierto in Mexico City (2024). He was represented at dOCUMENTA(13) in 2012.

The talk will be held in English and will be simultaneously translated into German. Admission is free. No registration required.

A collaboration between the Fridericianum and documenta archiv