Lisette Lagnado Analyzes documenta 12's Curatorial Vision

Lisette Lagnado's 2008 essay for Afterall examines Roger M. Buergel and Ruth Noack's curatorial project for documenta 12 in Kassel. Buergel returned to the bombed city's post-WWII ruins, investigating the foundations of the first documenta in 1955. The exhibition rejected the white cube in favor of colored spaces, woven curtains, and low lights reminiscent of bourgeois salons. Key works included Ai Weiwei's chairs, Hito Steyerl's film Lovely Andrea, and Trisha Brown's choreography. The Aue Pavillon, a 12,000-square-meter structure, became contentious after architects Lacaton & Vassal withdrew. Buergel's three themes—modernity, bare life, and education—structured the show. Education was an integral curatorial element, distinct from guided tours. The catalogue, a 400-page guide, avoided identifying artists' origins, aiming for a 'neutral' visitor. The exhibition featured historical collectives like Tucuman Arde and highlighted women artists including Mira Schendel, Grete Stern, and Atsuko Tanaka. Lagnado critiques the use of artworks as puppets for a foreign objective and notes the show's indirect celebration of Western Germany's reconstruction while reopening the East-West divide. The essay concludes with Gerhard Richter's painting Betty (1988) as a central image, invoking Walter Benjamin's angel of history.