Adam Szymczyk and documenta 14

For the first time two venues at the Documenta
 

From the time he left Basel Szymczyk officially had two and a half years to prepare documenta 14 for its opening in June 2017. As early as the start of October 2014 it was already clear that he would also break with traditional forms of presentation. The organisation responsible for the exhibition (the documenta and Museum Fridericianum gGmbH) issued a press release and, in a lecture to students and teachers at the Kunsthochschule Kassel, Szymczyk made a surprising announcement that for the first time in its history since 1955 the exhibition would be presented in two places, Athens and Kassel. The press release announced that: “Instead of a single spectacle in a fixed place and a clear chronological structure, as is characteristic for major international exhibitions, documenta 14 will have two runs with a dynamic balance both chronologically and spatially”. Similar to Kassel in 1955, which was still trying to come to terms with the trauma of the destruction of National Socialism and the war, Athens is now the showplace for Europe’s economic crisis and a metaphor for the swiftly changing global situation. The Greek capital embodies the economic, political, social and cultural dilemmas which confront Europe today.

The working title for documenta 14 was “Learning from Athens”. According to the local press in Kassel it would be about the forms of solidarity and survival mechanisms that would help during the crisis. Szymczyk “is interested in all the efforts to overcome the crisis, i.e. in the grassroots movements and communities that reject, say, the rampant corruption and are trying to build something new.” He has made it clear “that his documenta should not drop into the Greek capital like a UFO… only to disappear once more.” He preferred rather to concentrate on cooperating with existing cultural initiatives and projects, “which are fighting to survive in difficult times”. He wanted to support these institutions and demonstrate his trust through collaboration. [12]

The division of the exhibition into two locations came as a surprise to the public at large. As Szymczyk wrote in a 700 page “Reader” for documenta 14, this concept had already been part of the project proposal which led to his appointment as artistic head. He had already made his first contacts with Athens in December 2013 and March 2014, where working groups were set up. After his plans were made known there were conflicting reactions both in Kassel and in Athens. In Greece it was feared that this would be “another major event without any sustainable effect” just like the Olympic Games in 2004.[13] The local Kassel population, conservatives and city business people predicted that the documenta would lose its cultural heritage to Athens.[14] But neither the Lord Mayor of Kassel nor the sponsors were willing to follow this argument. In the final analysis Athens was not only a flashpoint for “current, global challenges”, but also a “point of culmination for thousands of years of European culture”.[15] In addition, in 2002, documenta 11 had had platforms in Vienna, New Delhi, Berlin, St Lucia and Lagos; and documenta 13 in 2012 has had access to stations in Kabul, Cairo and Banff.