#6 Auseinandersetzungen – Students of the University of Paderborn doing research in the documenta archiv
Friday, November 1, 2019 - Friday, April 24, 2020
Venue: Reading room at the documenta archiv, Untere Karlsstr. 4, 34117 Kassel
Admission free
documenta visitor in the café of the Orangerie. documenta 3 (1964), Inventory Number: documenta archiv, MS, d03, 10007618
"We know that there are too many functions for a single chair to fulfill." This statement by documenta participant Stefan Wewerka inspired a research into the various chairs and seating at documenta. Within the exhibition in the documenta archiv, however, the question about the functions of the chair serves only as an example for a total of eleven very different "Auseinandersetzungen" (discussions): under the direction of Dr. Tim Pickartz, students of the University of Paderborn developed their own research questions within one seminar and searched for answers in the documenta archiv - and thus dealt intensively with the holdings.
Contrary to the first impression, the exhibition does not generate an overview of the history of the documenta, nor does it answer the individual research questions. Instead, the documents that the students met in a special way during their research are exhibited - we are thinking here of Roland Barthes' concept of "punctum". Only through this did individual research interests emerge, which entailed an extensive "studium". The exhibition is thus an opportunity for visitors to let themselves be caught up in something and to seek their own "Auseinandersetzungen" (discussions) in the documenta archiv.
Curators: Dr. Tim Pickartz and Martin Groh