dOCUMENTA (13)

Exhibition of contemporary art – funded as a cultural institution of excellence

Giuseppe Penone Idee di Pietra, Bronze und Stein, 2004/2010, Foto: Roman Mensing

Established in 1955, the documenta is widely regarded as one of the most influential and internationally recognized exhibitions of contemporary art. Every five years, the documenta presents a diverse selection of current international art positions over a period of 100 days. In 2012, the dOCUMENTA (13) was presenting once again more than 100 artists whose works were displayed at various locations in Kassel. The exhibition featured paintings and sculptures, as well as installations, performances, photography and films.

Every documenta bears the curatorial signature of its artistic director. The curatorial concept for the dOCUMENTA (13) was developed and implemented by the curator and writer Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev. What was particularly novel about her concept was that she integrated "agents" to participate in coordinating the dOCUMENTA in a variety of ways. In addition, the dOCUMENTA (13) Honorary Advisory Committee had gathered a group of intellectuals and practitioners from various fields, such as art, anthropology, biology, quantum physics, literature and archaeology, to act as advisors. They could draw on their specific knowledge and viewpoints in order to develop new ideas and operational processes for the exhibition.

Artistic director: Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev
Agents: Leeza Ahmady, Ayreen Anastas & Rene Gabri, Sofía Hernández Chong Cuy, Sunjung Kim, Joasia Krysa, Koyo Kouoh, Marta Kuzma, Raimundas Malašauskas, Chus Martínez, Lívia Páldi, Hetti Perkins, Eva Scharrer, Kitty Scott, Andrea Viliani
Advisors: Mario Bellatin, Iwona Blazwick, Ali Brivanlou and Alexander Tarakhovsky, Donna Haraway, Salah Hassan, Pierre Huyghe, Michael Petzet, Jane Taylor, Michael Taussig, Anton Zeilinger

Schedule:
9 June – 16 Sept. 2012 dOCUMENTA (13), documenta Halle, Museum Fridericianum and other locations in Kassel

Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev

Born in America and raised by Bulgarian-Italian parents, Christov-Bakargiev is now a curator and writer who works in Rome, Kassel and New York. Between 1999 and 2001, she worked as senior curator of the P.S. 1 Contemporary Art Center in New York, and from 2002 to 2008, was the head curator of Castello di Rivoli in Torino, where she also worked as director in 2009. In 2005 she participated in the first Torino Triennial as co-curator and in 2008, served as the artistic director of the 16th Biennale of Sydney.

100 Notes – 100 Thoughts

Prior to the exhibition, the dOCUMENTA (13) and the Hatje Cantz Verlag published together a series of "notebooks". In the form of facsimiles of real notebooks, essays, collaborative works by artists and writers, and transcribed conversations, the series presents methods of intellectual work beyond traditional, academic, text-based production. The contributors come from a diverse range of disciplines, e.g. art, science, philosophy, psychology, anthropology, political science, literary studies and poetry, and include Kenneth Goldsmith, Péter György, Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev, William Kentridge, Rene Gabri, Vandana Shiva and Lawrence Weiner. The notebooks can be purchased separately or as an entire series from the Hatje Cantz Verlag.