Editing Documenta

{{Short description|Contemporary art exhibition in Kassel, Germany}}
{{for|the Croatian NGO|Documenta – Center for Dealing with the Past}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2022}}
[[File:Documenta13.jpg|thumb|The [[Fridericianum]] during ''documenta (13)'']]
'''Documenta''' (often stylized '''documenta''') is an [[Art exhibition|exhibition]] of [[contemporary art]] which takes place every five years in [[Kassel]], Germany.

Documenta was founded by artist, teacher and curator [[Arnold Bode]] in 1955 as part of the [[Bundesgartenschau]] (Federal Horticultural Show) which took place in Kassel at that time.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Searle |first=Adrian |date=2012-06-11 |title=Documenta 13: Mysteries in the mountain of mud |url=http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2012/jun/11/documenta-13-review |access-date=2023-01-16 |website=The Guardian |language=en}}</ref> It was an attempt to bring Germany up to speed with modern art, both banishing and repressing the cultural darkness of [[Nazism]].<ref name=":0" /> This first Documenta featured many artists who are generally considered to have had a significant influence on modern art (such as [[Pablo Picasso|Picasso]] and [[Wassily Kandinsky|Kandinsky]]). The more recent editions of the event feature artists based across the world, but much of the art is [[Site-specific art|site-specific]].

Every Documenta is limited to 100 days of exhibition, which is why it is often referred to as the "museum of 100 days".<ref>Arnold Bode coined this phrase for the first time in the prologue of the first volume of the catalogue: ''documenta III. Internationale Ausstellung''; Catalogue: Volume 1: Painting and Sculpture; Volume 2: Sketches; Volume 3: Industrial Design, Print; Kassel/Köln 1964; p. XIX</ref> Documenta is not a selling exhibition.

== Etymology ==
''Documenta'', an invented word, reflects the intention of the exhibition (in particular of the first Documenta in 1955) to be a [[documentation]] of [[modern art]] which was not available for the German public during the Nazi era. Rumour spread from those close to Arnold Bode that it was relevant for the coinage of the term that the Latin word ''[[Wikt:documentum|documentum]]'' could be separated into ''[[Wikt:doceo|docere]]'' 'teach' and ''[[Wikt:mens#Latin|mens]]'' 'intellect', and therefore thought it to be a good word to describe the intention and the demand of Documenta.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kimpel |first=Harald |url=https://openlibrary.org/books/OL420383M/Documenta |title=Documenta: Mythos und Wirklichkeit |date=1997 |publisher=DuMont |isbn=978-3-7701-4182-1 |location=Köln |ol=420383M |language=De}}</ref>

Each edition of Documenta has commissioned its own visual identity, most of which have conformed to the typographic style of solely using lowercase letters, which originated at the [[Bauhaus]].<ref>{{Cite news |last=Rawsthorn |first=Alice |date=3 June 2012 |title=A Symbol Is Born |work=[[The New York Times]] |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/04/arts/04iht-design04.html}}</ref>

==History==
[[File:FridericianumBeuys kasselgalerie de.jpg|thumb|''Stadtverwaldung'' by [[Joseph Beuys]], oaktree in front of the museum [[Fridericianum]], ''documenta 7'']]
Art professor and designer [[Arnold Bode]] from Kassel was the initiator of the first Documenta. Originally planned as a secondary event to accompany the [[Bundesgartenschau]], this attracted more than 130,000 visitors in 1955. The exhibition centred less on "contemporary art"—that is, art made after 1945—instead, Bode wanted to show the public works which had been known as "[[Entartete Kunst]]" in Germany during the Nazi era: [[Fauvism]], [[Expressionism]], [[Cubism]], [[Blauer Reiter]], Futurism and [[Pittura Metafisica]]. Therefore, [[abstract art]], in particular the [[abstract paintings]] of the 1920s and 1930s, was the focus of interest in this exhibition.

Over time, the focus shifted to contemporary art. At first, the show was limited to works from Europe, but soon covered works by artists from the Americas, Africa and Asia. ''4. documenta'', the first ever to turn a profit, featured a selection of [[pop art]], [[minimal art]] and [[kinetic art]].<ref>[http://germanhistorydocs.ghi-dc.org/sub_image.cfm?image_id=96 The ''documenta IV'' Exhibition in Kassel (1968)] German History in Documents and Images (GHDI).</ref> Adopting the theme of ''Questioning Reality – Pictorial Worlds Today,'' the 1972 Documenta radically redefined what could be considered art by featuring minimal and conceptual art, marking a turning point in the public acceptance of those styles.<ref name="online.wsj.com">{{Cite news |last=Chang |first=Helen |date=22 June 2007 |title=Catching the Next Wave In Art at Documenta |work=[[The Wall Street Journal]] |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB118245621300643825}}</ref> Also, it devoted a large section to the work of [[Adolf Wolfli]], the great Swiss outsider, then unknown. [[Joseph Beuys]] performed repeatedly under the auspices of his utopian Organization for Direct Democracy.<ref>[[Roberta Smith]] (7 September 2007), [https://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/07/arts/design/07gall.html "''Documenta 5''"] ''The New York Times''.</ref> Additionally, the 1987 Documenta show signaled another important shift with the elevation of design to the realm of art – showing an openness to postmodern design.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Gimeno-Martinez|first1=Javier|last2=Verlinden|first2=Jasmijn|year=2010|title=From Museum of Decorative Arts to Design Museum: The Case of the Design museum Gent|journal=Design and Culture|volume=2|issue=3|pages=259–283 |doi=10.2752/175470710X12789399279796 |s2cid=193083412 }}</ref> Certain key political dates for wide-reaching social and cultural upheavals, such as 1945, 1968 or 1976/1977, became chronological markers of ''documenta X'' (1997), along which art's political, social, cultural and aesthetic exploratory functions were traced.<ref>[http://archiv.documenta12.de/d10.html?&L=1 dX 1997] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130614050652/http://archiv.documenta12.de/d10.html?&L=1 |date=2013-06-14}}, ''documenta XII''.</ref> ''Documenta11'' was organized around themes like migration, urbanization and the post-colonial experience,<ref>{{Cite news |last=Valentin |first=Stephan |date=2007-06-12 |title=An art show in Kassel, Germany, rivals Venice Biennale |language=en-US |work=[[The New York Times]] |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/08/arts/08iht-rcardoc.1.6054263.html |access-date=2023-01-16 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> with documentary photography, film and video as well as works from far-flung locales holding the spotlight.<ref name="online.wsj.com"/> In 2012, ''[[documenta (13)]]'' was described as "ardently feminist, global and multimedia in approach and including works by dead artists and selected bits of ancient art".<ref name=":0">{{Cite news |last=Smith |first=Roberta |author-link=Roberta Smith |date=14 June 2012 |title=Art Show as Unruly Organism |work=[[The New York Times]] |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/15/arts/design/documenta-13-in-kassel-germany.html}}</ref>

==Criticism==
Documenta typically gives its artists at least two years to conceive and produce their projects, so the works are often elaborate and intellectually complex.<ref name="Kelly Crow 2012">{{Cite web |last=Crow |first=Kelly |date=8 June 2012 |title=A Party, Every Five Years, for 750,000 Guests |url=http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303918204577448311957812128.html |access-date=2023-01-16 |website=WSJ |language=en-US}}</ref> However, the participants are often not publicised before the very opening of the exhibition. At ''documenta (13)'', the official list of artists was not released until the day the show opened.<ref name="vulture.com">{{Cite web |last=Saltz |first=Jerry |date=15 June 2012 |title=Jerry Saltz: Eleven Things That Struck, Irked, or Awed Me at Documenta 13 |url=https://www.vulture.com/2012/06/saltz-notes-on-documenta-13.html |access-date=2023-01-16 |website=Vulture |language=en-us}}</ref> Even though curators have often claimed to have gone outside the art market in their selection, participants have always included established artists. In the ''documenta (13)'', for example, art critic [[Jerry Saltz]] identified more than a third of the artists represented by [[Marian Goodman Gallery]] in the show.<ref name="vulture.com"/>

Documenta's decision to feature some of its shows outside of Germany, in peripheral contexts has sparked numerous critical discussions that reaches an apogee around documenta14, which partly took place in [[Athens]], Greece, in 2017. Various critics raised concerns about the ways in which the institution's endorsement of Athens as a place of resistance and novelty entailed a patronizing Orientalist stance, linked to new forms of tourism and the enjoyment of underdeveloped sites of "crisis".<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Kalantzis |first1=Konstantinos |title=The Indigenous Sublime Rethinking Orientalism and Desire from documenta 14 to Highland Crete |journal=Current Anthropology |date=2023 |doi=10.1086/728171 |s2cid=266120123 |url=https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1086/728171?journalCode=ca|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

In 2022, Documenta caused three separate [[anti-Semitism]] controversies: one revolving around the banner ''People's Justice'' (2002) by the Indonesian collective [[Taring Padi]] that contained anti-Semitic imagery; another on the inclusion of the Palestinian collective Question of Funding in the exhibition; and, lastly, the inclusion of a 1988 Palestinian liberation movement brochure by Burhan Karkoutly titled ''Presence des Femmes''.<ref>Kabir Jhala (18 July 2022), [https://www.theartnewspaper.com/2022/07/18/documentas-director-steps-down-over-antisemitism-scandal Documenta's director steps down over antisemitism scandal]&nbsp;''[[The Art Newspaper]]''.</ref><ref name=Brown>{{cite news|url=https://news.artnet.com/art-world/documenta-battered-by-scandals-gets-hit-with-yet-another-allegation-of-antisemitic-imagery-in-the-show-2152990|author=Kate Brown|date=July 28, 2022|title=Documenta, Battered by Scandals, Gets Hit With Yet Another Allegation of Antisemitic Imagery in the Show|work=ART News}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.artnews.com/art-news/news/what-is-documenta-15-antisemitism-controversy-1234635001/|author=Alex Greenberger|date=July 22, 2022|title=Documenta's Anti-Semitism Controversy, Explained: How a German Art Show Became the Year's Most Contentious Exhibition|work=ART News}}</ref> Artist [[Hito Steyerl]] pulled her work from the exhibition in protest to the first two instances, with managing director Sabine Schormann's departure as a consequence.<ref>Alex Greenberger (16 July 2022), [https://www.artnews.com/art-news/news/documenta-sabine-schormann-departure-antisemitism-controversies-1234634366/ Documenta Head Is Out Amid Anti-Semitism Controversies and Pressure from German Politicians] ''[[ARTnews]]''.</ref> In response to the controversy spurred by ''Presence des Femmes'', Documenta released a statement urging the artistic team to remove the drawings until they can be "appropriately contextualized"; scholars from the Archives of Women’s Struggles in Algeria stated: "[''Presence des Femmes''] was in solidarity by the Algerian women with the Palestinian people, in denouncing the crimes committed by the Israeli State. We would like this document, like many other texts or artworks in the world, to be placed in its historical and political context."<ref name=Brown />

In November 2023, Documenta received the resignation letter of the remaining curators María Inés Rodríguez, Simon Njami, Gong Yan and Kathrin Rhomberg, following the resignation of [[Bracha L. Ettinger]] and [[Ranjit Hoskote]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=2023-11-17 |title=Documenta finding panel resigns out of 'grave concern' for show's future |url=https://www.theartnewspaper.com/2023/11/17/documenta-finding-panel-resigns-out-of-grave-concern-for-shows-future |access-date=2023-11-17 |website=The Art Newspaper - International art news and events}}</ref> The letter stated: "In the current circumstances we do not believe that there is a space in Germany for an open exchange of ideas and the development of complex and nuanced artistic approaches that documenta artists and curators deserve."<ref>{{Cite web |title=Instagram |url=https://www.instagram.com/accounts/login/?next=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.instagram.com%2Fmariainesrodriguez_%2F |access-date=2023-11-17 |website=www.instagram.com}}</ref>

Following the controversy, Documenta announced in November 2024 that [[Naomi Beckwith]], Deputy Director and Chief Curator of the [[Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum]], had been selected as the curator for the sixteenth edition.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Sella |first=Adam |date=2024-12-18 |title=An American Curator Takes the Helm at Crisis-Hit Documenta |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2024/12/18/arts/design/naomi-beckwith-documenta-curator.html |access-date=2025-01-15 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> &nbsp;

==Directors==
The first four ''documentas'', organized by Arnold Bode, established the exhibition's international credentials. Since the fifth Documenta (1972), a new artistic director has been named for each Documenta exhibition by a committee of experts. ''Documenta 8'' was put together in two years instead of the usual five. The original directors, Edy de Wilde and [[Harald Szeemann]], were unable to get along and stepped down. They were replaced by [[Manfred Schneckenburger]], [[Edward F. Fry]], Wulf Herzogenrath, Armin Zweite and Vittorio Fagone.<ref>Michael Brenson (15 June 1987), [https://www.nytimes.com/1987/06/15/arts/art-documenta-8-exhibition-in-west-germany.html?pagewanted=4&src=pm "''Documenta 8'', Exhibition In West Germany"], ''The New York Times''.</ref> [[Coosje van Bruggen]] helped select artists for ''documenta 7'', the 1982 edition. ''documenta IX'''s team of curators consisted of [[Jan Hoet]], Piero Luigi Tazzi, [[Denys Zacharopoulos]] and Bart de Baere.<ref>[[Michael Kimmelman]] (5 July 1992) [https://www.nytimes.com/1992/07/05/arts/art-view-at-documenta-it-s-survival-of-the-loudest.html?src=pm "At Documenta, It's Survival Of the Loudest"], ''The New York Times''.</ref> For ''documenta X'' [[Catherine David]] was chosen as the first woman and the first non-German speaker to hold the post. It is also the first and unique time that its website Documenta x was conceived by a curator (swiss curator [[Simon Lamunière]]) as a part of the exhibition. The first non-European director was [[Okwui Enwezor]] for ''Documenta11''.<ref>Jackie Wullschlager (19 May 2012) [http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/dd51a8f2-9f58-11e1-a255-00144feabdc0.html#axzz1xOagTL6w Vertiginous doubt] ''[[Financial Times]]''.</ref>

The salary for the artistic director of Documenta is around €100,000 a year.<ref>Julia Halperin, Gareth Harris (18 July 2014) [http://theartnewspaper.com/articles/How-much-are-curators-really-paid/33307 How much are curators really paid?] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140720031034/http://theartnewspaper.com/articles/How-much-are-curators-really-paid/33307 |date=20 July 2014}} ''[[The Art Newspaper]]''.</ref>

{| class="wikitable sortable"
!Title
!Date
!Director
!Exhibitors
!Exhibits
!Visitors
|-
| {{sort|01|}}''[[documenta 1|documenta]]''|| 16 July – 18 September 1955 || {{sort|Bode|}}[[Arnold Bode]] || 148 || 670 || {{formatnum:130000}}
|-
| {{sort|02|}}''[[II. documenta]]''|| 11 July – 11 October 1959 || {{sort|Bode|}}Arnold Bode, [[Werner Haftmann]]|| 338 || 1770 || {{formatnum:134000}}
|-
| {{sort|03|}}''[[documenta III]]''|| 27 June – 5 October 1964 || {{sort|Bode|}}Arnold Bode, Werner Haftmann || 361 || 1450 || {{formatnum:200000}}
|-
| {{sort|04|}}''[[4. documenta]]''|| 27 June – 6 October 1968 || {{sort|documenta council|}}24-strong ''documenta council'' || 151 || 1000 || {{formatnum:220000}}
|-
| {{sort|05|}}''[[documenta 5]]''|| 30 June – 8 October 1972 || {{sort|Szeemann|}}[[Harald Szeemann]] || 218 || 820 || {{formatnum:228621}}
|-
| {{sort|06|}}''[[documenta 6]]''|| 24 June – 2 October 1977 || {{sort|Schneckenburger|}}[[Manfred Schneckenburger]] || 622 || 2700 || {{formatnum:343410}}
|-
| {{sort|07|}}''[[documenta 7]]''|| 19 June – 28 September 1982 || {{sort|Fuchs|}}[[Rudi Fuchs]] || 182 || 1000 || {{formatnum:378691}}
|-
| {{sort|08|}}''[[documenta 8]]''|| 12 June – 20 September 1987 || {{sort|Schneckenburger|}}[[Manfred Schneckenburger]] || 150 || 600 || {{formatnum:474417}}
|-
| {{sort|09|}}''[[documenta 9|documenta IX]]''|| 12 June – 20 September 1992 || {{sort|Hoet|}}[[Jan Hoet]] || 189 || 1000 || {{formatnum:603456}}
|-
| {{sort|10|}}''[[documenta X]]''|| 21 June – 28 September 1997 ||{{sort|David|}}[[Catherine David]] || 120 || 700 || {{formatnum:628776}}
|-
| {{sort|11|}}''[[documenta11]]''|| 8 June – 15 September 2002 || {{sort|Enwezor|}}[[Okwui Enwezor]] || 118 || 450 || {{formatnum:650924}}
|-
| {{sort|12|}}''[[documenta 12]]''|| 16 June – 23 September 2007 || {{sort|Buergel|}}[[Roger M. Buergel]]/[[Ruth Noack]]<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/22/arts/design/22docu.html |author=Holland Cotter |title=Asking Serious Questions in a Very Quiet Voice |work=The New York Times|date=22 June 2007 | access-date=2014-08-29}}</ref> || 114 || {{sort|500|}}over 500 || {{formatnum:754301}}
|-
| {{sort|13|}}''[[documenta (13)]]''|| 9 June – 16 September 2012 || {{sort|Christov-Bakargiev|}}[[Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev]] || 187<ref>{{cite web |title=What the 13th Documenta Wants You to See |author=Ulrike Knöfel |date=8 June 2012 |url=http://www.spiegel.de/international/zeitgeist/a-preview-of-the-13th-documenta-art-exhibition-a-837492.html|work=[[Der Spiegel]]}}</ref>|| || {{formatnum:904992}}<ref name="d13visitors">{{cite web|title=904,992 people visit ''documenta (13)'' in Kassel|url=http://www3.documenta.de/press/news-archive/press-single-view/?tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=165&cHash=917eef30a56bc6a87c844d1d0d108d45|publisher=documenta und Museum Fridericianum Veranstaltungs-GmbH|access-date=8 August 2013|date=16 September 2012|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140225194859/http://www3.documenta.de/press/news-archive/press-single-view/?tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=165&cHash=917eef30a56bc6a87c844d1d0d108d45|archive-date=25 February 2014}}</ref>
|-
| {{sort|14|}}''[[documenta 14]]''|| 8 April – 16 July 2017 in Athens, Greece;<br />10 June – 17 September 2017 in Kassel
| {{sort|Szymczyk|}}[[Adam Szymczyk]]|| more than 160
| 1500 ||339,000 in Athens<br />891,500 in Kassel
|-
| {{sort|15|}}''[[documenta fifteen]]''|| 18 June 2022 – 25 September 2022 in Kassel || {{sort|ruangrupa|}}[[ruangrupa]]<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.artnews.com/art-news/market/ruangrupa-picked-as-artistic-director-of-documenta-15-11953/|title=Ruangrupa Artist Collective Picked to Curate Documenta 15|last=Russeth|first=Andrew|date=2019-02-22|website=ARTnews.com|language=en-US|access-date=2020-01-05}}</ref>||  more than 67<ref>Siddhartha Mitter (24 June 2022), [https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/24/arts/design/documenta-review.html Documenta Was a Whole Vibe. Then a Scandal Killed the Buzz.] ''[[New York Times]]''.</ref> || 
|
|-
|documenta 16
|2027
|Naomi Beckwith<ref>{{Cite web |title=Naomi Beckwith to direct Documenta 16 |url=https://artreview.com/naomi-beckwith-to-direct-documenta-16/ |access-date=2025-01-15 |website=artreview.com |language=en}}</ref>
|
|
|
|-
|}

2012's edition was organized around a central node, the trans-Atlantic melding of two distinct individuals who first encountered each other in the "money-soaked deserts of the [[United Arab Emirates]]". As an organizing principle it is simultaneously a commentary on the romantic potentials of globalization and also a critique of how digital platforms can complicate or interrogate the nature of such relationships. Curatorial agents refer to the concept as possessing a "fricative potential for productive awkwardness," wherein a twosome is formed for the purposes of future exploration.<ref>{{Cite web |title=In Germany, Disguising Documentary As Art |url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/olivia-katrandjian/documenta-13-disguising-documentary_b_1720951.html |website=[[The Huffington Post]] |date=30 August 2012 |access-date=2015-09-28}}</ref>

==Venues==
Documenta is held in different venues in Kassel. Since 1955, the fixed venue has been the [[Fridericianum]]. The documenta-Halle was built in 1992 for ''documenta IX'' and now houses some of the exhibitions. Other venues used for Documenta have included the [[Karlsaue]] park, [[Schloss Wilhelmshöhe]], the Neue Galerie, the [[Ottoneum]] and the Kulturzentrum Schlachthof. Though Okwui Enezor notably tried to subvert the euro-centric approach Documenta had taken, he instigated a series of five platforms before the ''Documenta11'' in Vienna, Berlin, New Delhi, St Lucia and Lagos, in an attempt to take Documenta into a new post-colonial, borderless space, from which experimental cultures could emerge. ''documenta 12'' occupied five locations, including the Fridericianum, the Wilhelmshöhe castle park and the specially constructed "Aue-Pavillon", or meadow pavilion, designed by French firm Lacaton et Vassal.<ref>Stephan Valentin (12 June 2007), [https://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/08/arts/08iht-rcardoc.1.6054263.html An art show in Kassel, Germany, rivals Venice Biennale] ''[[International Herald Tribune]]''.</ref> At ''documenta (13)'' in 2012 about a fifth of the works were unveiled in places like Kabul, Afghanistan and Banff, Canada.<ref name="Kelly Crow 2012"/>

There are also a number of works that are usually presented outside, most notably in Friedrichsplatz, in front of the Fridericianum and the Karlsaue park. To handle the number of artworks at ''documenta IX'', five connected temporary "trailers" in glass and corrugated metal were built in the Karlsaue.<ref>[[Roberta Smith]] (22 June 1992), [https://www.nytimes.com/1992/06/22/arts/review-art-a-small-show-within-an-enormous-one.html A Small Show Within an Enormous One] ''The New York Times''.</ref> For ''documenta (13)'', French architects Anne Lacaton and Jean-Philippe Vassal constructed the temporary "Aue-Pavillon" in the park.

[[File:Fridericianum.jpg|thumb|500px|center|View of the Friedrichsplatz with the Fridericianum (2nd Building from the left) and the Documenta ticket booth (right)]]

==Permanent installations==
[[File:Rahmenbau Komplettansicht documenta6.jpg|thumb|''Rahmenbau'' (1977) by Haus Rucker und Co.]]

A few of the works exhibited at various ''documentas'' remained as purchases in Kassel museums. They include ''[[7000 Eichen]]'' by [[Joseph Beuys]]; ''Rahmenbau'' (1977) by Haus-Rucker-Co; ''Laserscape Kassel'' (1977) by [[Horst H. Baumann]]; ''Traumschiff Tante Olga'' (1977) by Anatol Herzfeld; ''Vertikaler Erdkilometer'' by [[Walter De Maria]]; ''Spitzhacke'' (1982) by [[Claes Oldenburg]]; ''Man walking to the sky'' (1992) by [[Jonathan Borofsky]]; and ''Fremde'' (1992) by [[Thomas Schütte]] (one part of the sculptures are installed on Rotes Palais at Friedrichsplatz,<ref>Thomas Siemon (25 June 2015), [https://www.hna.de/kassel/suchen-eine-heimat-5168658.html Wieder aufgebaut: "Die Fremden" sind zurück in Kassel] ''[[Hessische/Niedersächsische Allgemeine]]''.</ref> the other on the roof of the Concert Hall in [[Lübeck]]).

==Documenta archive==
The extensive volume of material that is regularly generated on the occasion of this exhibition prompted Arnold Bode to create an archive in 1961. The heart of the archive’s collection comes from the files and materials of the Documenta organization. A continually expanding video and image archive is also part of the collection as are the independently organized bequests of Arnold Bode and artist [[Harry Kramer (German artist)|Harry Kramer]].

==Management==
===Visitors===
In 1992, on the occasion of ''documenta IX'', for the first time in the history of Documenta, more than half a million people traveled to Kassel.<ref>[http://archiv.documenta12.de/d9.html?&L=1 d9 1992] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140222145425/http://archiv.documenta12.de/d9.html?&L=1 |date=2014-02-22}}, ''documenta XII''.</ref> The 2002 edition of Documenta attracted 650,000 visitors, more than triple Kassel's population.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Searle |first=Adrian |date=19 June 2007 |title=100 days of ineptitude |url=http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2007/jun/19/art |access-date=2023-01-16 |website=The Guardian |language=en}}</ref> In 2007, ''documenta 12'' drew 754,000 paying visitors, with more than one-third of the visitors coming from abroad and guests from neighboring Netherlands, France, Belgium and Austria among the most numerous.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Hickley |first=Catherine |date=24 September 2007 |title=Documenta Contemporary Art Show Draws Record 754,000 to Kassel |work=Bloomberg |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=aYNQthX3SBKc&refer=muse |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140222143630/http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=aYNQthX3SBKc&refer=muse |archive-date=2014-02-22}}</ref> In 2012, ''documenta (13)'' had 904,992 visitors.<ref name="d13visitors"/>

===Budget===
In 2007, half of Documenta's budget of 19 million euros ($25.7 million) came from the city of Kassel, the state of [[Hessen]] and Germany's [[Kulturstiftung des Bundes]]. The rest came from sponsors, donors and ticket sales.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Berwick |first=Carly |date=17 May 2007 |title=Documenta 'Mystery' Artists Are Revealed; Buzz Strategy Fizzles |work=Bloomberg |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=af0gyo112rUE&refer=muse |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140222150828/http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=af0gyo112rUE&refer=muse |archive-date=2014-02-22}}</ref>

Documenta 14’s budget was at 37 million euros ($40 million), spread between 2013 and 2018;<ref>{{Cite news |last=Donadio |first=Rachel |date=5 April 2017 |title=German Art Exhibition Documenta Expands Into Athens |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/05/arts/design/documenta-german-exhibition-greek-crisis.html |url-status=live |access-date=2023-01-16 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170406000625/https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/05/arts/design/documenta-german-exhibition-greek-crisis.html |archive-date=2017-04-06 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> by the end of 2017, its deficit was expected to reach 5.4 million euros.<ref name="theartnewspaper.com">{{Cite web |last=Hickley |first=Catherine |date=27 November 2017 |title=Documenta manager to leave post after budget overruns |url=https://www.theartnewspaper.com/2017/11/27/documenta-manager-to-leave-post-after-budget-overruns |access-date=2023-01-16 |website=The Art Newspaper}}</ref> Overspending in Athens led to a liquidity shortfall of 7 million euros, forcing the shareholders of Documenta — the city of Kassel and the German state of Hesse — to step in with emergency loan guarantees worth 8 million euros.<ref name="theartnewspaper.com"/>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
*{{cite web | last=Higgins | first=Jo | title=Aboriginal artist Richard Bell brings replica tent embassy to Germany's Documenta, ahead of 2023 Tate London installation| website=ABC News |publisher= [[Australian Broadcasting Corporation]] | date=1 July 2022 | url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-07-02/richard-bell-tent-embassy-documenta-tate-london/101189166}}
* {{Cite news |author-last=Hickley |author-first=Catherine |title=This Show Sets the Direction of Art. Its Past Mirrored a Changing World. |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=2021-06-18 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/18/arts/documenta-deutsches-historisches-museum.html}}
* [[Nancy Marmer]], "Documenta 8: The Social Dimension?" ''[[Art in America]]'', vol. 75, September 1987, pp.&nbsp;128–138, 197–199.

==External links==
{{commons category|Documenta}}
{{Wikivoyage|Kassel}} 
* [http://www.documenta.de Official web page of Documenta]
* [http://www.documenta12.de/archiv/dx Official archive of the ''documenta X'']
* [http://www.panorama-cities.net/kassel/theatre.html City Panorama], interactive panorama at the Documenta Hall
* [https://theculturetrip.com/europe/germany/articles/transforming-the-art-world-the-history-of-the-documenta-art-exhibition/ "Transforming the Art World: The History of the Documenta Art Exhibition"] by Mélissa Leclézio, Culture Trip, 29 December 2016
{{Documenta}}
{{list of Biennales}}

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[[Category:Contemporary art exhibitions]]
[[Category:Documenta| ]]
[[Category:1955 establishments in West Germany]]
[[Category:Recurring events established in 1955]]