exergue – on documenta 14, Kapitel 14

Im November 2013 bekam der polnische Kurator Adam Szymczyk den Auftrag, die documenta 14 zu gestalten. Lange galt die Documenta als die wichtigste Kunstausstellung der Welt. Sie findet alle fünf Jahre in Kassel in der Mitte Deutschlands statt. Wer hier als Kurator bestellt wird, ist selbst ein Star in der Kunstwelt. Und hat eine Riesenaufgabe, von der Dimitris Athiridis in seinem vierzehn-stündigen Riesenwerk einen angemessenen Eindruck verschafft. Sehr früh steigt er mit seiner Beobachtung ein, und hat dann sehr weitgehenden Zugang. Szymczyk ist die zentrale Figur und fast immer im Bild. Aber rund um ihn und um seine nicht nur in äußerst kritischen Momenten eigentümliche Nonchalance entfaltet sich ein Panorama des heutigen Kunstfelds und zugleich ein Panorama der Politik in einem reichen westlichen Land. Selten wurden die Widersprüche des modernen Lebens besser erschlossen als in EXERGUE – ON DOCUMENTA 14, der sich wie eine Serie schauen lässt, aber ergiebiger ist als Block, der zu einer Klarheit äußerster Erschöpfung führt. (Bert Rebhandl)  

Am 20.10. in Anwesenheit von Dimitris Athiridis und Adam Szymczyk.

Dieser Film läuft im Rahmen der Screenings EXERGUE, Kapitel 11-14 und EXERGUE, Kapitel 08-14. 

Am Sonntag, 20. Oktober 2024 findet ein Gespräch mit Dimitris Athiridis @ VIENNALE ZENTRALINO statt. Mehr Information dazu hier!

EXERGUE – ON DOCUMENTA 14 is a decidedly modest title for a 14-hour-long film, the final chapter of which reveals its meaning. By then, a journey equally gripping and harrowing has come to an end, leaving its protagonists rattled by the forces they sought to question, even if they can at least say that all their hard work made a mark to be read in the future. Dimitris Athiridis’ hugely compelling third documentary feature follows curator Adam Szymczyk from 2015 to 2017 during the preparation of the famous quinquennial art exhibition. The proposal that landed him the job as artistic director was that the art event would not only take place in Kassel but, in line with Okwui Enwezor’s documenta 11 logic of decentralisation, also in Athens, at the time of the austerity measures following the sovereign debt crisis. He and his team were eventually bullied by the German media and political establishment for going over budget, pilloried over debt in a patronising manner reminiscent of the EU’s economic leader’s attitude towards Greece. However, the subsequent controversies surrounding documenta suggest a deeper problem. The Indonesian collective ruangrupa’s 15th edition was accused of anti-Semitism, while political pressure has also halted the next edition’s preparations under a similar pretence. What is at stake here is the very existence of publicly funded art, particularly of a politically relevant kind, at a time when privatisation and corporate interests dominate. This is where documenta 14 left its mark. In their attempts to “learn from Athens”, to make a sprawling, multi-faceted exhibition addressing issues of migration, colonialism and self-determination, the curatorial team questioned the ownership of cultural institutions, the betrayal of representative bodies and the stranglehold of the market. Athiridis conceives of documentary cinema with a similar commitment to public transparency. His film’s astonishing level of accessstems as much from Szymczyk’s willing participation over two years—while meeting artists all over the world, discussing curatorial and budget issues, installing the works, meeting journalists and politicians—as from his own decade-long work in recording, piecing together and synthesising material to make the issues at hand intelligible without losing any of their complexity. Athiridis’ desire for truth is multiplied by his obvious love for storytelling and for art in general. While EXERGUE is shot in a largely vérité style, the serial structure is a narrative tour de force, interpolating diferent temporalities to read history in a non-linear way, to put what demagogy has locked into simplistic causality into perspective, to honour every actor in this play, and to go back to the very essence of curation: what is it that we should care for? (Antoine Thirion)

On October 20th in the presence of Dimitris Athiridis and Adam Szymczyk.

This film will be shown as part of the screenings EXERGUE, Chapters 11-14 and EXERGUE, Chapters 08-14. 

On Sunday, October 20nd 2024, there will be a talk with Dimitris Athiridis at the VIENNALE ZENTRALINO. More information here!

Dimitris Athiridis: T4 TROUBLE AND THE SELF ADMIRATION SOCIETY (2009), ENA VIMA BROSTA (2012)