Documenta 5

Documenta 5 in film

“Documenta 5” by Jef Cornelis is the second title of the new “Archives” collection, which is dedicated to landmark exhibitions and curatorial practices, and which provides reference material and moving images to a growing field of research, that of curatorial studies and exhibition history.

Held in Kassel between June and October 1972, “Documenta 5” was curated by “master–curator” Harald Szeemann and remains one of the most important international exhibitions of the past few decades. Entitled “Interrogation of Reality—Picture Worlds Today,” it brought together works by Marcel Broodthaers, Christian Boltanski, Arnulf Rainer, Claes Oldenburg, Gerhard Richter, and Ed Ruscha, and could be called the first exhibition as a spectacle.

Introducing the different sections (“Artist’s Museum,” “Individual Mythologies,” etc.) and protagonists, the film is both a report on trends and pacesetters of the time, as well as an approach to the phenomenon of Documenta, questioning the definitions of exhibition maker, artist, exhibition, contemporary art.

Jef Cornelis has mainly worked for VRT, Belgian national television in Flemish. He has realized more than 200 films, especially on architecture, literature, and the arts.

Yves Aupetitallot is an art historian, curator, art critic, and director of Le Magasin–Centre National d’Art Contemporain, Grenoble. His essay offers essential reference points that elucidate the context and debates of this pivotal exhibition.

Published with Le Magasin, Centre National d’Art Contemporain, Grenoble, and Argos–Center for Art and Media, Brussels.

DVD Multizone, PAL/SECAM, 54 minutes.