Documenta 14 in Kassel, Germany, 2017
Documenta is a huge art festival that takes place in Kassel, Germany, every 5 years. This one, the 14th, is also simultaneously taking place in Athens. We went to Kassel a couple of weeks ago, so thought I might as well post a load of pictures. I am sure the one in Athens was just as nice.
If you want more information on the festival you can check out the official site https://www.documenta.de/en/
As stated in the link: “Over 160 international artists present works conceived for Documenta 14 at more than thirty different sites, public institutions, squares, cinemas, and university locations.” That is a lot of material.
We didn’t see all the artists because we are mere mortals but over the course of two days and 50,000 steps (according to my pedometer), we saw a hell of a lot. If you fancy going, the official site gives tips on how to get there. We ignored the advice as we also went to the Sculpture Project in Muenster. Because art.
I won’t go into too much detail as Documenta should be experienced and I can’t write pretentiously / lexically dense / cleverly enough to match a lot of ‘art writing’. The pretty photos should help a bit. I do have a few personal highlights and a very vague itinerary if that helps those deciding to go.
The main section and hub of Documenta is in the centre of town where there is an Acropolis made of books. It was a work in progress when we went but it was pretty amazing. There is a lot of stuff around this area with all the principal sites about 10 minutes walk from each other. You can also buy tickets, get maps, press passes and so on.
We did all the central stuff in one mad burst and the plan was then to have a beer and food and take it easy, finishing up the next day. However, after a large German ale and currywurst, we were sufficiently revived to see more. So we then took in two more sites that were amazing and completely different. One was in an abandoned subway station and the other in an old post office. Both are highly recommended.
Without further ado, here are the aforementioned loads of photos. (If you click on them, they get bigger.) They don’t really do credit to Documenta as that would take hundreds of pictures and a better photographer than myself. The festival runs until 17th September. Enjoy.
