documenta 5 catalog (1972)

Cover from the 1972 documenta 5 exhibition catalog. The cover is bright orange and shows a group of stylized black ants moving across the surface in a curved formation. The three-dimensional insects cast shadows, giving the design an illusionistic depth.
documenta 5, catalog, documenta GmbH / C. Bertelsmann Verlag, Kassel, 1972, Photos: Marianne Vierø
Double page from the 1972 documenta 5 exhibition catalog in ring binder form. On the left is a black page with a glued-in black and white photo showing two men in a rural setting. On the right, the table of contents with 25 numbered chapters, including topics such as "Political Propaganda", "Science Fiction / Seen Today from Yesterday", "Museums of Artists" and "Individual Mythologies - Self-Representation - Processes".
documenta 5, catalog, documenta GmbH / C. Bertelsmann Verlag, Kassel, 1972, Photos: Marianne Vierø
Double page from the 1972 documenta 5 exhibition catalog in ring binder form. On the left is a page with three advertisements from the 1970s showing highly sexualized depictions of women in connection with Afri-Cola. Above this is a short text on Charles Wilp. On the right, a schematic floor plan with room numbers and the inscription "Neue Galerie Untergeschoß" (New Gallery Basement), plus the title of an exhibition section on political poster propaganda in Germany. The pages are numbered with tabs in the right-hand margin.
documenta 5, catalog, documenta GmbH / C. Bertelsmann Verlag, Kassel, 1972, Photos: Marianne Vierø
Double-page spread from the 1972 documenta 5 exhibition catalog in ring binder form. The pages are densely printed with German text in a column layout and contain several small illustrations, including a medieval city view, a painting with fantasy creatures, a photograph of figures in the dark, a colorful postcard with the words "tomorrow's postcard - fantasy fast becoming fact!" and an aerial view of a modern city complex. The contents deal with utopian and fantastic imagery. The page tabs for chapters 10 to 16 are visible on the right.
documenta 5, catalog, documenta GmbH / C. Bertelsmann Verlag, Kassel, 1972, Photos: Marianne Vierø
Double page from the 1972 documenta 5 exhibition catalog in ring binder form. On the left is a black and white photograph of a family with two children in front of a car, taken on a sidewalk. Underneath is the work description for the photo. On the right is a biography page with information about the artist Claudio Bravo, his origins, exhibitions and collections in which his works are represented. The design is simple and typographically characterized.
documenta 5, catalog, documenta GmbH / C. Bertelsmann Verlag, Kassel, 1972, Photos: Marianne Vierø
Double page from the 1972 documenta 5 exhibition catalog in ring binder form. On the left a blank page. On the right, a printed questionnaire entitled "DOCUMENTA VISITOR PROFILE" by Hans Haacke. The form contains a large number of standardized questions on the social background, profession, educational level and political attitudes of the visitors. The page has a fine typographical design and looks like an official survey document. Tabs in the margins mark chapters 19 to 24.
documenta 5, catalog, documenta GmbH / C. Bertelsmann Verlag, Kassel, 1972, Photos: Marianne Vierø
Rückseite des Ausstellungskatalogs der documenta 5 von 1972
documenta 5, Katalog, documenta GmbH / C. Bertelsmann Verlag, Kassel, 1972,Fotos: Marianne Vierø
Cover from the 1972 documenta 5 exhibition catalog. The cover is bright orange and shows a group of stylized black ants moving across the surface in a curved formation. The three-dimensional insects cast shadows, giving the design an illusionistic depth.Double page from the 1972 documenta 5 exhibition catalog in ring binder form. On the left is a black page with a glued-in black and white photo showing two men in a rural setting. On the right, the table of contents with 25 numbered chapters, including topics such as "Political Propaganda", "Science Fiction / Seen Today from Yesterday", "Museums of Artists" and "Individual Mythologies - Self-Representation - Processes".Double page from the 1972 documenta 5 exhibition catalog in ring binder form. On the left is a page with three advertisements from the 1970s showing highly sexualized depictions of women in connection with Afri-Cola. Above this is a short text on Charles Wilp. On the right, a schematic floor plan with room numbers and the inscription "Neue Galerie Untergeschoß" (New Gallery Basement), plus the title of an exhibition section on political poster propaganda in Germany. The pages are numbered with tabs in the right-hand margin.Double-page spread from the 1972 documenta 5 exhibition catalog in ring binder form. The pages are densely printed with German text in a column layout and contain several small illustrations, including a medieval city view, a painting with fantasy creatures, a photograph of figures in the dark, a colorful postcard with the words "tomorrow's postcard - fantasy fast becoming fact!" and an aerial view of a modern city complex. The contents deal with utopian and fantastic imagery. The page tabs for chapters 10 to 16 are visible on the right.Double page from the 1972 documenta 5 exhibition catalog in ring binder form. On the left is a black and white photograph of a family with two children in front of a car, taken on a sidewalk. Underneath is the work description for the photo. On the right is a biography page with information about the artist Claudio Bravo, his origins, exhibitions and collections in which his works are represented. The design is simple and typographically characterized.Double page from the 1972 documenta 5 exhibition catalog in ring binder form. On the left a blank page. On the right, a printed questionnaire entitled "DOCUMENTA VISITOR PROFILE" by Hans Haacke. The form contains a large number of standardized questions on the social background, profession, educational level and political attitudes of the visitors. The page has a fine typographical design and looks like an official survey document. Tabs in the margins mark chapters 19 to 24.Rückseite des Ausstellungskatalogs der documenta 5 von 1972

Harald Szeemann's documenta 5 opens a new chapter in the history of the exhibition under the motto "Questioning Reality - Visual Worlds Today". The unconventional catalog also breaks with the previous documenta tradition: it is not published as a book, but - in keeping with the curatorial view of everyday aesthetics and popular culture - in the form of a lever-arch file with perforated individual pages. The thematic sections of the overflowing collection of material are subdivided using numbered index cards. A separate brochure contains room plans and a list of the exhibits. The Kassel-based graphic designer Karl Oskar Blase developed the typography and the graphic appearance; the American artist Edward Rusha contributed the characteristic ant motif on the signal-colored cover.