The documenta is regarded as the most important exhibition of contemporary art, drawing attention from all over the world. It was initiated in 1955 by the artist and art educator Arnold Bode in Kassel. After the period of Nazi dictatorship, it was intended to reconcile German public life with international modernity and also confront it with its own failed Enlightenment.

Nobody would have thought at that time that the exhibition, often called the One Hundred Day Museum, would become an unparalleled success. Nevertheless, the thirteenth documenta will take place in summer 2012. For further information on the process of her preparation please click here.  

The singular character of the exhibition has been preserved. Every five years, a new director is chosen and the exhibition is reinvented, a concept which to date has been affirmed by the public's interest. The number of visitors has continually risen. More than 750 thousand visitors came to documenta12. Under continually changing directorship, and in the equally leisurely and inexorable rhythm of five years, the documenta has advanced to become an authoritative worldwide seismograph of contemporary art. At the documenta, it becomes manifest whether art is succeeding in grasping the world in images and whether these images have validity for its public. For further information on the history of the exhibition click here. 


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