- documenta archiv
The East German art critic and exhibition organizer Lothar Lang described the 1959 documenta as a “monster show” - just one of the judgments in which the political and cultural tensions between the two German states are condensed as if in a burning glass. What image did art actors in East Berlin, Dresden or the then Karl Marx-Stadt form of the “most important art exhibition in the Western world” in Kassel and, conversely, how did the artistic-curatorial teams around Arnold Bode, Harald Szeemann, Manfred Schneckenburger, Rudi Fuchs or Jan Hoet view the GDR, cultural functionaries and the art production of the neighboring country?
In their material-rich study Exhibition Politics. Die documenta und die DDR, art and cultural historian Alexia Pooth explores this special chapter of Kassel’s exhibition history using numerous previously unpublished source materials from East and West. Against the backdrop of the Cold War, phases of political rapprochement and the fall of the Wall, the author traces the complex history of reception and perception, in which dialog and exchange always took place despite political and ideological frontlines. In the Federal Republic and the GDR, the documenta served to position itself politically and was at the same time a place of self-perception and perception of others, generating cultural, political and social identities. The content ranges from the early documenta exhibitions to Catherine David’s documenta X in 1997, whose historical retrospective also reflected the changed geopolitical situation of the world after 1990.
In addition to historical analyses, the volume offers a varied compilation of documents, interviews with contemporary witnesses, artist portraits and picture series in various text forms, making it an entertaining read.
Exhibition Politics. Die documenta und die DDR will be published in the documenta archiv series in spring 2024.
