Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev. Photo: Eduardo Knapp
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Works byThomas Bayrle. © VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2012.Photo: Anders Sune Ber
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William Kentridge, The Refusal of Time, 2012.Courtesy the artist. Photo: Henrik Stromberg
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William Kentridge, The Refusal of Time, 2012.Courtesy the artist. Photo: Henrik Stromberg
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Roman Ondák, Observations, 1995/2011. 120 cuttings from a book, grouped in 72 frames. Courtesy the artist. Photo: Anders Sune Berg.
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Roman Ondák, Observations, 1995/2011, 120 cuttings from a book, grouped in 72 frames. Courtesy the artist. Photo: Anders Sune Berg
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Nalini Malani, In Search of Vanished Blood, 2012. Photo: Anders Sune Berg.
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Julie Mehretu, Mogammma (A Painting in Four Parts), 2012. Part 1. Courtesy the artist; Marian Goodman Gallery, New York,Paris; White Cube, London. Photos: Anders Sune Berg
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Pierre Huyghe, Untilled, 2011–12. Alive entities and inanimate things, made and not made. Courtesy the artist; Marian Goodman Gallery, New York - Paris; Esther Schipper, Berlin. © VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2012.Photo: Nils Klinger
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Rosemarie Trockel, Tea Party Pavillon, 2012. Courtesy Sprüth Magers Berlin London. © VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2012. Photo: Nils Klinger
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Giuseppe Penone, Idee di Pietra, 2004/2010. © VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2012. Photo: Roman Mensing
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Shinro Othake, MON CHERI : A Self-Portrait as a Scrapped Shed, 2012. Courtesy Shinro Othake; Take Ninagawa, Tokio. Photo: Nils Klinger
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Clemens von Wedemeyer, Muster (Rushes), 2012. © VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2012.Courtesy Clemens von Wedemeyer. Photo: Henrik Stromberg
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Geoffrey Farmer, Leaves of Grass, 2012, Ausgaben des Magazins Life (1935–1985), hohes Gras, Holz, Klebstoff Maße variabel, Courtesy the artist. Photo: Anders Sune Berg
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Gerard Byrne, Untitled, 2012. Courtesy the artist, Lisson Gallery, London; Green on Red Gallery, Dublin; Galerie Nordenhake, Berlin/Stockholm. Photo: Nils Klinger
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Nedko Solakov, Knights (and other dreams), 2010-12. Courtesy the artist; Galleria Continua, San Gimignano/Beijing/Le Moulin. Photo: Richard Kasiewicz
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It’s probably the most complex documenta of all times, with all manner of things being thought, shown, and acted out in every conceivable location. “documenta 13 is powered by a vision of entirety as opposed to a logocentric notion,” announced the director Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev,
“a manifest simultaneity of places and times.” It’s already clear that
her exhibition concept is turning out to be a success. While the press
was disoriented by Christov-Bakargiev’s statements on voting rights for
dogs or the culture of tomatoes, a veritable labyrinth of ideas now
presents itself—an imaginary garden that is both sensuous and an
intellectual challenge. Anyone planning to explore the whole of the
documenta should bring sturdy shoes and three days’ time to tackle the
show, which is huge and spread out over a wide area. On the excursions,
visitors also have the opportunity to discover new works by artists
that are part of the Deutsche Bank Collection or otherwise linked to the bank’s art program. We congratulate these artists on their exceptional contributions!
One of the highlights—and one of the most striking works on show—is Thomas Bayrle’s Airplane
in the documenta hall: a huge wall piece comprised of thousands of
airplanes, a steel relief, a humming propeller, and machine sculptures.
The power with which the 70-year-old artist occupies the space is
amazing. Also in the documenta hall: the delicate, precise architectural drawings of Julie Mehretu, who created a commissioned work for the Deutsche Guggenheim in 2009. In the basement of the Neue Galerie is the work of the “Deutsche Bank Artist of the Year” 2012: Roman Ondák
suspends hundreds of captioned photographs over grey walls in
ever-changing constellations, creating a subtle grammar of
relationships and perceptions. Right next door in the Rotunda of the
Fridericianum, old master Lawrence Weiner
tattooed his text work in the “Brain,” the fantastic collection of
artworks and artifacts that documenta director Christov-Bakargiev set
up as an associative room.
In 2006, with Black Box/Chambre Noir, William Kentridge
created a seminal commissioned work for the Deutsche
Guggenheim. Installed in Kassel’s main train station, his video
installation Refusal of Time has been celebrated by many
critics as one of the most powerful works of the exhibition: five
projection screens with animated films, a breathing machine, a
fantastic sound collage: Kentridge creates magnificent opera. Right
around the corner, the three-act film drama Muster/Rushes by Clemens von Wedemeier, who showed at the Deutsche Guggenheim as a Villa Romana
fellow. His film about the Breitenau Cloister near Kassel, the prison,
concentration and work camp, and finally home for delinquent girls is
chilling. Also in the main station: the works of Rabih Mroué and Otolith Group, both of whom were shown in 2011 in Globe during the opening of the Deutsche Bank Towers
in Frankfurt. Mroué’s videos investigate the Syrian revolution, and the
material he presents is shocking. With their cell phones, victims
filmed the very shots that killed them. Directly behind the station is
the work of Lara Favaretto,
who made a large-scale photographic work in 2007 for the Deutsche Bank
Head Office in Milan. For documenta, she built a mammoth apocalyptic
scene using 40 tons of used metal in a reference to the war damage done
to both Kassel and Kabul, where another section of documenta takes
place. Here, Francis Alys presents his video REEL-UNREEL, which was produced in Afghanistan.
Situated in the Karlsaue are Anri Sala’s meditation on time, Clocked Perspective and Rosemarie Trockel's Tea Party Pavillon, as well as the “animal stars” of documenta 13: Pierre Huyghe, whose Antarctica project A Journey That Wasn’t was sponsored by Deutsche Bank for the 2006 Whitney Biennial
in New York, has an odd couple clowning around in a specially created
garden: the slender Spanish greyhound Human and the puppy Seńor. Donna Haraway and Tue Greenfort, who designed a special edition for the Deutsche Bank Collection, created The Wordly House,
a project about people and animals living together. With so much utopia
and dystopia on display, there is also, last but not least, something
to laugh about: the Bulgarian artist Nedko Solakov,
who has a commissioned work in the Frankfurt Towers, traces the paths
of the crusaders in his installation “Knights (and other dreams)”—and
in all kind of variations: he films live play actors in costume,
members of the Order of the Maltese Cross, Teutonic neonazis, and
finally himself in action, playing in a hard rock band wearing a
clattering suit of armor—a magical pleasure at the Grimm Museum.
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