documenta 15: Fridericianum

In this venue: *foundationClass*collective, Another Roadmap Africa Cluster (ARAC), Archives des luttes des femmes en Algérie, Asia Art Archive, Centre d’art Waza, Dan Perjovschi, El Warcha, Graziela Kunsch, Gudskul, Hamja Ahsan, Jumana Emil Abboud, Keleketla! Library, Komîna Fîlm a Rojava, OFF-Biennale Budapest, Project Art Works, Richard Bell, Sada [regroup], Saodat Ismailova, Siwa plateforme – L’Economat at Redeyef, Sourabh Phadke, The Black Archives

Exhibition title: documenta 15

Curated by: ruangrupa

Venue: documenta 15, Fridericianum, Kassel, Germany

Date: June 18 – September 25, 2022

Photography: all images copyright and courtesy of the artists and ©documenta 15

The Fridericianum was opened in 1779 to provide public access to the collections of the Landgraves of Hesse and is closely tied to the development of the European Enlightenment idea of the museum. When private royal collections were transferred to public ownership, the bourgeoisie adopted art as a medium for reflection, prestige, and interpretative authority. During the postwar period, the Fridericianum began being used exclusively for exhibitions, and the first documenta in 1955 restricted itself entirely to the museum. Since then, the building has repeatedly been the focus of subsequent editions and has come to be considered as the main venue of documenta.

For the duration of documenta fifteen, the former exhibition building has become Fridskul (Fridericianum as school) and is being used by artists and collectives to apply and demonstrate different models of horizontal education that are rooted in life. ruangrupa, the Artistic Team, and the artists and collectives occupying the Fridericianum see it as a lumbung—a practice of sharing and a form of architecture often used to store harvests in Indonesian. As a lumbung, as both a domestic place and a social space where all can gather, the cold museum space of the Fridericianum becomes a warm and dynamic place. The different artists and collectives of Fridskul view their relationship as that of neighbors and will host and collaborate with each other on various programs. The host of Fridskul is the Gudskul collective from Indonesia, of which ruangrupa is a founding member. Gudskul is running workshops, seminars, knowledge-market events, and karaoke nights with other collectives. During periodic meetings, a collective decision was made to house the Fridskul library in the Fridericianum’s rotunda. A dormitory and kitchen have been installed on the ground floor of the building, where participating artists and students can eat and sleep during the 100 days of the exhibition.

At Fridskul, OFF-Biennale Budapest imagines a Transnational Museum of Roma Contemporary Art (“RomaMoMA”). The ground floor houses RURUKIDS, an initiative founded by ruangrupa in 2010 to enable artists to work with children and teenagers. An evolving installation, including paintings and drawings, recreates the studio environment of Project Art Works in Hastings, UK. Dan Perjovschi draws on the columns of the Fridericianum, representing central themes of documenta fifteen. Focusing on the archive, The Black Archives from the Netherlands, the Asia Art Archive from Hong Kong, and the Archives des luttes des femmes en Algérie from Algeria, show what archival practices can become when they are tied to protest and community.

At the invitation of lumbung member OFF-Biennale Budapest and as part of “RomaMoMA”, Sead Kazanxhiu has equipped the façade of the Fridericianum with his installation The Nest (2012–2022). The nests, made of wood, metal wire, polyurethane foam, and paint, blend into the architecture so that they are not immediately recognizable as artistic contributions. The Nest was first installed at the Albanian National Museum in Tirana in 2012. The work calls for the institutionalization of Roma history, art, and culture. Reminiscent of giant swallows’ nests, the artist articulates a position between homeliness and strangeness.

documenta fifteen: Dan Perjovshi, Generosity, Regeneration, Transparency, Independence, Sufficiency, Local Anchor and most of all Humor, 2022, intallation view, Fridericianum, Kassel

documenta fifteen, 2022, installation view, Fridericianum, Kassel

documenta fifteen: Richard Bell, 2022, Umbrella Embassy, 2022, installation view, Fridericianum, Kassel

documenta fifteen: Fridskul Common Library, Fridericianum, Kassel, June 17, 2022, Photo: Victoria Tomaschko

documenta fifteen, 2022, installation view, Fridericianum, Kassel

documenta fifteen, Gudskul, Temuwall, 2022, installation view, Fridericianum, Kassel

documenta fifteen, 2022, installation view, Fridericianum, Kassel

documenta fifteen: *foundationClass*collective, Becoming, 2022, installation view, Fridericianum, Kassel

documenta fifteen: OFF-Biennale Budapest, Małgorzata Mirga-Tas, from the series “Out of Egypt”, 2021, installation view, Fridericianum, Kassel, June 11, 2022, photo: Frank Sperling

documenta fifteen: OFF-Biennale Budapest, Małgorzata Mirga-Tas, from the series “Out of Egypt”, 2021, installation view, Fridericianum, Kassel

documenta fifteen: OFF-Biennale Budapest, Tamás Péli, Birth, 2021, installation view, Fridericianum, Kassel

documenta fifteen: OFF-Biennale Budapest, Daniel Baker, Shadow Diagram, 2021, installation view, Fridericianum, Kassel

documenta fifteen: Damian Le Bas, Back To The Future! Safe European Home 1938, 2013, installation view, Fridericianum, Kassel, 2022

documenta fifteen: János Balázs, installation view, Fridericianum, Kassel, 2022

documenta fifteen: Mara Oláh / Omara, installation view, Fridericianum, Kassel, 2022

documenta fifteen: OFF-Biennale Budapest, Tamás Péli, Birth, 2021, installation view, Fridericianum, Kassel

documenta fifteen: Asia Art Archive, 2022, The Black Archives, 2022, installation view, Fridericianum, Kassel

documenta fifteen: The Black Archives, Black Pasts & Presents: Interwoven Histories of Solidarity, 2022, installation view, Kassel, June 11, 2022, photo: Frank Sperling

documenta fifteen: Asia Art Archive, 2022, The Black Archives, 2022, installation view, Fridericianum, Kassel

documenta fifteen: The Black Archives, Black Pasts & Presents: Interwoven Histories of Solidarity, 2022, installation view, Kassel, June 11, 2022, photo: Frank Sperling

documenta fifteen: Asia Art Archive, 2022, The Black Archives, 2022, installation view, Fridericianum, Kassel

documenta fifteen: Keleketla! Library, Francis Burger, 2022, installation view, Fridericianum, Kassel

documenta fifteen, 2022, installation view, Fridericianum, Kassel

documenta fifteen, Another Roadmap Africa Cluster (ARAC), 2022, installation view, Fridericianum, Kassel

documenta fifteen, 2022, installation view, Fridericianum, Kassel

documenta fifteen, Centre d’art Waza, Sari Middernacht, Chadrack Kakule, Stéphane Kabila, Patrick Mudekereza, 2022, installation view, Fridericianum, Kassel

documenta fifteen, 2022, installation view, Fridericianum, Kassel

documenta fifteen, Centre d’art Waza, Sari Middernacht, Chadrack Kakule, Stéphane Kabila, Patrick Mudekereza, 2022, installation view, Fridericianum, Kassel