Bam! The Whole World Jumps: Jen Budney on Documenta X

BAMITHE WHOLE WORLD JUMPS JEN BUDNEY ON DOCUMENTA X D ocumenta X begins with the atom bomb and never gets much lighter. '''Bam!' the whole earth jumps!" (Celine). "The atom bomb has really turned the relationship between society and science into a matter of life and death:' (Brecht). These words overlay an image of Kassel in ruins - 1943, bombed to bits by the Allies - on the inside flap of the exhibition catalogue. Catherine David has titled this weighty anthology Politics/Poetics, in homage to Marcel Broodthaers. It's an important book about "the political potential ofart" from World War II to the present, focusing cheifly on Western Europe, and then the U.S., with brief forays into Algeria, Russia, Japan, China, and assorted other areas. Gramsci's Prison Notebooks essay on mmJournal of Contemporary African Art· Summer/Fall 1997 Italy's "southern problem" - that is, his location of social problems within geographical terms- provides a crucial structure for a collection of literally hundreds of historical and contemporary texts about globalization and urbanization, post-colonialism and destabilization. Trendier issues ofidentity politics are not taken up (in part because they tend too much towards nationalism), and architecture is given a large role; film and tIleatre also feature heavily among tile analyses. IfI begin with the catalogue rather tIlan the exhibition, it's because the texts provide a clearer picture ofthe curator's intentions. Most ofthe exhibition is beautifully and thoughtfully installed throughout tile "parcours " of 19th century and modern buildings, a train station, an underpass, and one commercial street; one has the impression of cartwheeling from one artist's work to the next, each work reflecting on that previous and embellishing all that follows. But of course it is immense, and the constant motion in such a huge network can be a bit dizzying if you don't stay for a week or ten days to really take time to sit through the films and videos, read all the wall texts, etc.. Most visitors during the opening days, already bleary-eyed from Venice the week before, bustled through Documenta in 48 hours and then hopped the train to MUnster. (The book itself is over 800 pages but you don't have to pay the hotel to read it). This is not really a complaint: in fact, for this reason David has largely succeeded in her aim of not providing yet another spectacular "mecca for tourism and cultural consumption" (her words); it's also a timely resistance against those like former art world darling Jean Baudrillard, who insists upon art's meaninglessness and who's now, not surprisingly, proving to be a very dangerous presence in league with France's far Right. David is sure to take some flack for her rejection of more traditional fare such as object-oriented sculpture and painting, but However, given her intellectual rigour and that fact she claims to take politics as seriously as aesthetics, a few notable absences in the show's content seem particularly appalling; and I also felt that works by the youngest artists were not up to par with more historical work. The exhibition involves over 220 artists (including filmmakers, architects, etc.) that function together as a giant text, highlighted by a few key exhibitions in the form of retrospectives of certain artists who emerged in the 60s: Broodthaers, Oyvind Fahlstrom, Gordon MattaClark , Helio Oiticica, Gerhard Richter, Michelangelo Pistoletto, Richard Hamilton, and Aldo van Eyck. So with this list it's apparent we're looking at systems, though not all work embodies such out-and-out systems analysis as Matta-Clark. Artists are chosen roughly for their relevance to certain time periods reflecting different sets of problems: 1967-78, when post-war optimism and pervasive capitalist expansion inspires critique of the institution and the search for "outside" spaces for art; 1978-89, as the Left weakens, radical positions shift to "postures of ambiguity"; 1989-present, when the Soviet bloc falls apart and capitalism expands again (multi-nationals become more monolithic and colonialist), great Above: Lygia Clark, 0 Eu EO Tu: Serie Roupa-Corpa-Roupa, 1967, Mixed media. Opposite: Hetio Oiticica, TropicaLia, PenetrabLes PN 2e PN3, 1967, photo instaLlation,bothphotos: Mario Gomi. when we...