That the documenta is a highly political art exhibition has been recognized long before the last edition’s scandal surrounding the curatorial collective Ruangrupa: taking place every five years in Kassel, close to the former inner German border, it by virtue of its location and the Western canon it represented was a bone of contention between the Federal Republic of Germany and its eastern counterpart. Although the documenta 6 in 1977 for the first and last time officially hosted artistic positions from the GDR, the contacts and relationships between players on both sides date as far back as the inception phase of the exhibition as documents, among many other things, the present volume: Alexia Pooth’s study „Exhibition Politics. Die documenta und die DDR“, published last year by Kerber Verlag, significantly broadens the discourse on the documenta and the GDR by examining networks and entanglements and by sounding out the complex political dimensions of the exhibition. Focusing on first ten editions of the documenta, Pooth shows the continuous interest in GDR art and artists on the part of the documenta officials but also how it was received behind the Berlin Wall: this reciprocal relationship becomes palpable in the book’s different chapters discussing e.g. the invitation of Bertolt Brecht to the first documenta, Gerhard Richter’s travels to Kassel from the East in 1955 and 1959 or the improved inner German contacts following Willy Brandt’s „Ostpolitik“ (eastern policy). What is also addressed is the obvious ignorance and lack of awareness with regard to the GDR’s art scene on the part of West-German protagonists who showed a significant lack of knowledge and interest after the fall oft he wall.
With „Exhibition Politics“ Alexia Pooth not only broadens the perspective on the inner German cultural relationships but also demonstrates that this part of German art history still needs a lot of research in order to be fully understood. An eye-opening, brilliant read!
