NICHE Art & Architecture Tours Berlin Blog

dOCUMENTA (13): In Conclusion

dOCUMENTA(13) is almost over. In several visits we managed to discover quite a lot – albeit not everything. Yes, it’s been impressive. But we’re far from being at one with each other about whether we found it brilliant or a bit too zeitgeisty (animism, urban gardening, Afghanistan). Either way, we’ve seen many, many good art works. And each trip was definitely more than worth it. For those who still haven’t paid their visit yet – here’s our final shortlist of contributions not to be missed. In previous reviews we’ve already highlighted works such as Theaster Gates’ 12 Ballads for the Huguenot House (2012), Tino Seghal’s performance This Variation (2012) or Geoffrey Farmer’s installation Leaves of Grass (2012) at Neue Galerie. Besides these, our very personal “must-sees” are the following:

Andrea Büttner, Little Sisters: Luna Park Ostia (2012) Photograph Sune Berg

It’s one of the more discreet works at Neue Galerie, but Andrea Büttner’s multi-media installation Little Sisters: Luna Park Ostia (2012) is at the same time sober – if not slick –, delicate and reflective. It’s based on the artist’s research on a religious order in an amusement park near Rome and questions the negligence of immaterial properties in a superficial capitalist environment through various artistic strategies, such as a video showing layers of moss, a slide show about the nun’s every-day activities, illustrations of Immanuel Kant’s Critique of Judgement. 

The Worldly House, compiled by Tue Greenfort (2012) Photograph Roman März

In the back of Karlsaue hides a little treasure in the guise of a shack.The Worldly House is an archive compiled and presented by Tue Greenfort. The artist filled the former bird-house (once installed for swans, now inhabited by racoons) with texts, books and videos that allow the visitor to engage with Donna Haraway’s ideas on the »multi-species co-evolution«. We could have spent hours in front of the computers containing documentation on art works dealing with the relationship of human and other beings. Aesthetically, Tacita Dean’s work Fatigues (2012) in the former tax office is a highlight: The artist covered the interior walls with monumental blackboard-drawings. The work consists of beautiful wintery mountain and sea sceneries about the annual snowmelt in the surroundings of Kabul, inspired by footage the artist commissioned from an Afghan cameraman. 

Tacita Dean, Fatigues (2012) Photograph Nils Klinger

Omar Fast, Continuity (2012) Photograph Nils Klinger

Haris Epaminonda and Daniel Gustav Cramer installed their own meta show: The End of Summer (2012) is a mysterious, unusual take on vacation, exotic places and the adventures of travelling. Its minimalist and abstract aesthetic is quite opposed to the rather opulent imagery sometimes found in dOCUMENTA (13) and got us thinking about alternative ways of installing art works. On top, the attic of their space (the stationmaster’s former apartment in the train station) bears a magnificent treasure for you to discover.  We need not say more about Omer Fast’s much-talked about film Continuity (2012), but we have to admit that it surprised us as well and left a lasting impression. 
For the art historians among us, the use of images in Mario Garcia Torres’ Have You Ever Seen The Snow? (2010) was delightful and illuminating. His research on Alighiero Boetti’s Hotel One in Kabul is artistic research par excellence: A picture essay analysis totally dependent on found images.


Mario Garcia Torez, Have You Ever Seen The Snow? (2010) Photograph Roman März

Finally, Walid Raad’s lecture performance in his installation Scratching on Things I Could Disavow (2007-ongoing) enthralled us: The Lebanese artist meticulously researched the interrelations between the art world and economic circles and already had us believing that the latter dominate every thinkable artistic decision, just to puzzle us again and demonstrate in a very poetic way how when it all comes down to it, lines, forms, shapes and colours live their own, autonomous little life, and not even times of crises can take that away from them. What better way to end a visit of dOCUMENTA (13)? 

Waalid Raad, Scratching on Things I Could Disavow (2007-ongoing) Photograph Sune Berg

All photographs Courtesy dOCUMENTA (13)