AIT hosted a small press briefing at the Roppongi Hills Club on September 17th from 5-30pm for Documenta 12. In attendance were curator Ruth Noack (sitting centre) and Magazines Project curator Georg Schollhammer (sitting right on the sofa). Director Roger M. Buergel was not in Tokyo.
After a very comprehensive historical contextualising of the Documenta exhibitions since 1955, Ruth and Georg presented a broad overview of Documenta 12 which opens June 16 next year (2007). The three leitmotifs which the exhibition is exploring were introduced - Is modernity our antiquity? ("it seems that we are both outside and inside modernity, both repelled by its deadly violence and seduced by its most immodest aspiration or potential: that there might, after all, be a common planetary horizon for all the living and the dead."), What is bare life? ("Bare life deals with that part of our existence from which no measure of security will ever protect us. But as in sexuality, absolute exposure is intricately connected with infinite pleasure.") and What is to be done? ("Today, education seems to offer one viable alternative to the devil (didacticism, academia) and the deep blue sea (commodity fetishism)").
Breaking with Documenta tradition (I was not aware of this but apparently artists lists are never pre-released), Documenta 12 have released the names of two artists: the legendary Spanish cook Ferran Adriá and the Polish-based artist Artur Źmijewski.
Ruth also talked about the curatorial intention of showing historical works alongside contemporary projects, speaking about going back as far as the Middle Ages. Another interesting aspect that struck me was the idea not to organise any guided tours, but instead provide information 'islands' throughout the exhibition, where visitors can stop to read or be lectured by educators.
It must be daunting to be charged with curating a Documenta, I thought as I listened to Ruth and Georg. There is this highly anticipated quality to the exhibition which seems to create a very particular aura around the project, unlike other large scale exhibitions. And I was amazed at how the curators this time are attempting to create new exhibitionary structures through the magazines project and other reforms - which seems to be a Documenta tradition also if one thinks back to Catherine David's 100 days 100 lectures series or Okuwei Enwezor's Platforms.
Ruth popped round to AIT too the following day, where we chatted informally about Japanese post war art history and leafed through dozens of catalogues and books together.
Documenta 12 website.
Georg Shollhammer.
Ruth Noack.
Documenta is an exclusive art institution. Free art thrives in the Internet: www.screendust.com
Posted by: Random Screendust | November 08, 2006 at 01:46 AM