This year's edition of Documenta announces itself to sprawl across many locations as diverse as Kabul, Cairo and Banff. Well sprawl it does, right across Kassel from the far reaches of the Karlsraue Park, through the traditional halls out to the Haupbtbanhoff and beyond. Roberta Smith, in her review, laments the exhibition's vastness as indicative of the curator's superior attitude. I made my peace with it early on - as at Burning man, you just can't see it all. In situations of this scale, everyone has their own experience and comes away with a more personal space that they have navigated for themselves.
The Hauptbahnhof is the place to be. The Refusal of Time, William Kentridge's installation dealing with the physics and metaphysics of time and our march to the abyss, is very wonderful. Even adjusted for my bias. 28 minutes of insightful exhilaration. Janet Cardiff and George Bures Miller's Alter Banhof Video Walk is excellent too. Notching up from creating a reality through audio cues, this work unfolds through video on an ipod paired with audio. Following footage shot in the very space one is located in results in a truly new sense of virtual reality. And the subject matter, addressing the dark history of the specific space is brave and impactful.
Over at Documenta Halle, several strong Julie Meheretu pieces are featured along an elegant wall. There is a huge hall devoted to machine sculptures and to a giant wall installation of in the shape of an airplane. And another new find - Nalini Malani. A chamber featuring giant mylar cylinders spinning on high, casting shadows onto walls over a base of projected animations. A meditation on violence and non-violence and the only clearly eastern-influenced work in the entire megabition.
Ryan Gander has several sly interventions in Documenta, including the ground floor of the Fredricarnum filled with wind. An evocative piece although I pitied the staff who had to stand in the cold draft for hours on end. Upstairs, an affecting room full of texts, wood carvings and slides exploring deformities by Kader Attia. Some very strong 3d paintings by Lynne Foulkes. A peaceful room featuring two indigenous Australian artists, Doreen Reed Nakamarra and Warlimpirrnga Tjalpaltjarri. And Cristina Christov-Bakargiev's "brain room" - a crowded rotunda filled with a diverse array of objects and art pieces that collectively represented the entire mass of the exhibition. Start here and map your way out or end here and see how many pieces of the puzzle you put together.
Oddly, the official map was difficult to navigate (sic.) and critical for an exhibition at this scale.My one and only moan.
The Neuegalerie features an amazing installation and video by Zanele Muholi, a hero of the South African women's and gay movements. There is a giant collage by Geoffrey Farmer that assembles decades of Life magazine into some semblance of a taxonomy of popular culture. And a loud and challenging anger management workshop by Stuart Ringholt.
Ryan Gander has several sly interventions in Documenta, including the ground floor of the Fredricarnum filled with wind. An evocative piece although I pitied the staff who had to stand in the cold draft for hours on end. Upstairs, an affecting room full of texts, wood carvings and slides exploring deformities by Kader Attia. Some very strong 3d paintings by Lynne Foulkes. A peaceful room featuring two indigenous Australian artists, Doreen Reed Nakamarra and Warlimpirrnga Tjalpaltjarri. And Cristina Christov-Bakargiev's "brain room" - a crowded rotunda filled with a diverse array of objects and art pieces that collectively represented the entire mass of the exhibition. Start here and map your way out or end here and see how many pieces of the puzzle you put together.
Oddly, the official map was difficult to navigate (sic.) and critical for an exhibition at this scale.My one and only moan.
The Neuegalerie features an amazing installation and video by Zanele Muholi, a hero of the South African women's and gay movements. There is a giant collage by Geoffrey Farmer that assembles decades of Life magazine into some semblance of a taxonomy of popular culture. And a loud and challenging anger management workshop by Stuart Ringholt.
Further afield, Tino Seghal and Theaster Gates share a super popular spot. Seghal's work is a blackened room where performers assist one in navigating by sound and then share political messages just as you're getting comfortable. Gates' work is an entire building's worth of intervention in which musicians live and play throughout the exhibition. Across the street, Paul Chan provides walls of old book covers painted with slight and melancholic scenes of nature.
Alora and Calzadilla show a work is hard to find and harder to decipher. Buried in the side of a hill, a video in which a woman plays an ancient flute while a griffon vulture looks on impassively. The path back to civilization is through an impressively scaled set of sculptures by Adrian Villar Rojas showing a post-apocalyptic scenario of man caught in the act.
Alora and Calzadilla show a work is hard to find and harder to decipher. Buried in the side of a hill, a video in which a woman plays an ancient flute while a griffon vulture looks on impassively. The path back to civilization is through an impressively scaled set of sculptures by Adrian Villar Rojas showing a post-apocalyptic scenario of man caught in the act.
Tacita Dean has a wonderful set of works tucked on a side street. Large-scale drawings of mountains and rivers in Afghanistan made in chalk on chalkboard. Unfixed, they underline the current threat posed to these majestic scenes. And capture the beauty in vulnerability.
Karlsraue Park has a huge array of works and surprises, reminiscent of the best aspect of Black Rock City. Pierre Huyghe's installation dealing with decay and the lessons of nature is truly experiential. Fiona Hall's camouflaged hut of endangered species is simultaneously affectionate and affecting. And much, much more including a second Cardiff piece that I did not get to.
The Ottonaeum has an array of environmental works, underlining the highly didactic nature of some of the exhibition. I didn't get to the Orangerie or several more off the off-campus locations.
After four days, I came away with a bit of fatigue which was overpowered by the buzz of experiencing a subjective yet powerful overview of current themes in art and culture. And the warmth of spending time with good friends and new acquaintances.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment