From 1955 onwards, the makers of each documenta sought to offer insights into current trends in art and to document the spirit of their particular time. This publication sets the history of documenta in the context of the political, cultural and socio-historical development of the Federal Republic of Germany in the second half of the twentieth century. It thereby illuminates a relationship of mutual dependence between art and history. Time and time again, this major international exhibition was a place where West Germany‘s perception of itself was negotiated. From the very beginning, progressive and regressive political currents were active there side by side.
Published by: Raphael Gross with Lars Bang Larsen, Dorlis Blume, Alexia Pooth, Julia Voss, Dorothee Wierling for the Deutsches Historisches Museum
Berlin, Munich 2021, 336 pages, Prestel
Text: English
ISBN 9783861022237