- documenta
After months of tension, the documenta and Museum Fridericianum gGmbH has kicked off to a promising future: Dr Sabine Schormann, currently responsible for two major arts trusts in northern Germany, will take up the key management position of general director. The contracts were signed yesterday (Tuesday) evening.
As Kassel’s mayor and supervisory board chairman of the documenta, Christian Geselle, emphasized that with Dr Schormann a competent personality has been found to give the documenta a solid basis and a new approach. “It is time to look forward. On the 18th of June 2022 the documenta 15 will open in Kassel. It has always been my intention that the people of Kassel and the world can look at our future world art exhibitions positively and enthusiastically with great anticipation,“ said Geselle.
With Wolfgang Orthmayr’s interim occupancy of the management, the current business has been secured. He will manage the business in close co-operation with Dr Sabine Schormann until her move to Kassel this autumn. The search for a new director was supported by a world-leading human resources agency.
“I am really delighted to have found Dr Schormann, a leading person with international expertise in art and culture management,” said mayor Geselle with reference to her professional qualification. She takes over the leadership of the documenta and Museum Fridericianum gGmbH after 18 years’ experience in her double function as director of the Lower-Saxony Sparkasse trust and the VGH trust in Hanover. Dr Schormann developed and shaped both trusts to their current significance. With a yearly budget of about 5 million euro the two trusts strengthen the cultural offering of Lower-Saxony, especially in the areas of visual arts, museums, music, literature, preservation of monuments and historical knowledge.
Sabine Schormann established the “National Day of Open Monuments” for the German trust for the protection of monuments. From 1996 to 2000 she managed the “Planet of Visions” and “The 21st Century” in the EXPO 2000 world exhibition theme park in Hanover.
The further development of the world’s most important art exhibition will profit from Dr Schormann’s professional competences, especially in the areas of art and museums, her innovative approach, her expertise managing complex institutions and major events, as well as her extensive experience in dealing with high quality art.
“I understand my role as ‘facilitator’. That means that with the documenta, I would like to strengthen art further with the biggest possible display and public perception, without involving myself artistically,” said Dr Schormann. In this respect she has the full support and confidence of the partners Kassel City and Hessen. Mayor Geselle: “Now we have the opportunity to bring documenta up to date and strengthen it lastingly”.
“I am pleased that we could attract Dr Sabine Schormann, a proven culture expert for this central position. This decision is an important further component with which we ensure that the documenta 15 will take place in 2022 as planned and will continue to be the first address for art friends from the whole world and will also stand on a solid foundation in future,“ said Hessen’s Minister for Science and Art and deputy supervisory board chairperson Boris Rhein.
“The documenta is a great stroke of luck and treasure that we must protect for Hessen’s culture”.
One of Sabine Schormanns first tasks will be to initiate and accompany the search for an artistic director for the documenta 15 and for the Fridercianum art gallery. As director of the trust, i.a. responsible for the Lower-Saxony Music Days and the Literature Festival, she is convinced of the close exchange between the general management and the curatorial management: “I am aware of the expectation and the great responsibility and look forward to this challenging task.”
Dr Schormann will also support the documenta Institute’s development process actively. In addition to these responsibilities, Dr Schormann would like to set the tone in Kassel in other respects – including and especially between the exhibition years – so as to highlight the local function and fixed positioning of the documenta, which is recognized as a platform for global artistic exchange.