Today is the Press Preview for journalists from all over the globe who have come to Kassel, Germany for dOCUMENTA (13). dOCUMENTA is a large, curated exhibition that occurs only every five years, so the event is quite important and filled with expectation. Images posted here are from the Press Conference, which was full on the 1st and 2nd floors of a hall within the Congress Palais. As the main attraction the conference focused on curator Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev in conversation with members of a panel representing Kassel and dOCUMENTA. The event started at noon and went until 2:30pm. Christov-Bakargiev spoke little about the artists involved and more about her personal manifesto of sorts that lead to the exhibition which presents many international artists in various venues in and around Kassel. According to her point of view, (paraphrased)

dOCUMENTA (13) is a space that is vulnerable yet cares for. It is an exhibition about physical lack and the negation of what is missing. Within the context of the exhibition their is an invisibility; A ghostly other. The digital is the mediator. It is about speed and lack of attention.

I have no concept.

[The exhibition is] Re-imagining the world via art and particular circumstances that are recognized as art. Commitment, active life, current undertakings and the recognition of inanimate and animate objects in the world as art. Technological links both connect people and separate us by the necessity of indirect communication. 
 
[Throughout the discussion she often skipped pages from the text she was reading counting them out as she went. Several press audience members applauded.]
dOCUMENTA (13) is not the performative or the “I’m here” check in (!) of the Facebook generation. 
 
We’ve been promised a state of confusion. An exhibition that will allow for the creation of facts through visual information. As the curator has stated that she “aggregates” vs. selecting artists, it is now time to venture out into the cold Kassel air, attempting to avoid the rain drops and actually see the exhibition. Only being present and witnessing the show in person will determine if the philosophical dialogue actually communicates with the visual representation and the notion of our need for human connections, even amongst a barrage of technological advance and social networking, which have a way of bringing us together and keeping us apart.

dOCUMENTA (13): is on view June 6th-Sept 19th 2012 and opens to the public on June 9th, 2012.
Others present who I recognized included Christian Rattemayer of MoMA, Elna Svenle  (previously of Sculpture Magazine and now Director of Vandalorum in Sweden), Nadja Sayej of *Artstars, Alexander Forbes Stevens of Artinfo along with Jerry Saltz of New York Magazine and Roberta Smith art critic from the New York Times.

More soon!
xo