seminar 2 presentation — David Alpert

welcome to my seminar ii presentation. i appreciate you being here.

proposal for documenta no. 16
histories aka relativistic spacetime

On this side I am not at all comprehensible because I live so well with the dead right now—as with the unborn—a little closer to the heart of creation than usual and far from being close to enjoyment.

-Paul Klee (1879-1940) (artist in documenta no. 1-3)

documenta has been in existence for 66 years (since 1955 with documenta no. 1 dir. by Arnold Bode)
spacetime is not linear
our present effects our history effects our future effects our present and so on
- future <-> past <-> present <-> future <-> …
examining our history is both a method to better understand our present and our future (and vice versa)
paula modersohn-becker, documenta 1
- self portrait with camellia
documenta (1955) began as a historical reckoning of sorts
- redefining german culture
- situating modernism and avant garde within the historical cannon
- museum fridericianum
documenta 2 (1959) -> abstraction
- alexander calder, hextopus, 1955
- edwin scharff, pandora, 1952-53
documenta 3 (1964) -> museum of 100 days
- focus on individual artists
- otto piene, scheibenprojektor, 1963
- heinz mack, white light dynamo, 1964
- ZERO
documenta 4 (1968) -> youngest documenta (to date)
- focus on contemporary (time from previous documenta to date)
- bazon brock, besucherschule, 1968
documenta 5 (1972)
- reality
- dir. by harald szeeman
- hans-rucker co., oase no. 7, 1972