Documenta 5 (1972) in film.
"Documenta 5" by Jef Cornelis is the second title of the new "Archives" collection, which is dedicated to landmark exhibitions and
curatorial practices, and which provides reference material and moving images to a growing field of research, that of curatorial studies and exhibition history.
Held in Kassel between June and October 1972, "Documenta 5" was curated by "master–curator"
Harald Szeemann and remains one of the most important international exhibitions of the past few decades. Entitled "Interrogation of Reality—Picture Worlds Today," it brought together works by
Marcel Broodthaers,
Christian Boltanski,
Arnulf Rainer,
Claes Oldenburg,
Gerhard Richter, and
Ed Ruscha, and could be called the first exhibition as a spectacle.
Introducing the different sections ("Artist's Museum," "Individual Mythologies," etc.) and protagonists, the film is both a report on trends and pacesetters of the time, as well as an approach to the phenomenon of Documenta, questioning the definitions of exhibition maker, artist, exhibition, contemporary art.
Jef Cornelis (born 1941) has mainly worked for VRT, Belgian national television in Flemish. He has realized more than 200 films, especially on architecture, literature, and the arts.
