From 30 November to 2 December, the documenta archiv organized the conference "IN | OUT - Canonization Processes of Modern Art and the First documenta" at the Museum Fridericianum.

 

The video recording of the kick-off event is now available online.

 

For two and a half days, our speakers and more than 100 guests discussed the inclusion and exclusion of artistic positions at the first documenta in 1955. The lectures, which covered a wide range of topics and methods, dealt with the prehistory, historical environment and social context of the exhibition and provided a wide range of insights into the research field of institutional and reception history as well as the networks of artists and actors from the 1920s to the 1950s.

 

Questions that have remained unanswered for the time being have revealed research desiderata and opened up perspectives for subsequent projects. The conference thus pointed to promising topics that the documenta archiv will continue to pursue in cooperative projects.

 

We would like to thank all interested parties and especially the contributors for the instructive and material-rich case studies on the first documenta.

 

Chronology of the kick-off event in the video:

 

Welcome: Prof. Dr. Andreas Hoffmann and Dr. Birgitta Coers

 

Keynote: Prof. Dr. Christian Fuhrmeister (Central Institute for Art History, Munich)
"Who needs which image of 'modern art' when and why?"

 

Subsequent panel discussion with Prof. Dr. Christian Fuhrmeister, Dr. Reinhard Spieler (Sprengel Museum Hannover) and Prof. Dr. Annette Tietenberg (HBK Braunschweig); Moderation: Dr. Birgitta Coers.

 

The complete conference program can be found here.