The concept

documenta 14 unfolded in space and time as multiple narratives. These narratives connected (at various levels of complexity) selected texts, images, sounds, objects, spaces and people. Curatorial and editorial choices, as well as the chorus’ and visitors’ pathways in diverse public spaces made sense of these connections in certain ways, thereby overshadowing others.

What can the title “Learning from Athens” tell us of the main narratives created by the protagonists of this exhibition? What can be the role of specific artworks in this immense assemblage of people and ideas? What role do certain images play? What do certain juxtapositions bring about? How can omissions speak up? What do we remember of this whole story and why? What have we forgotten, how do we judge, evaluate and articulate what is of interest for us, in what ways are we affected, what else can we do? Can we reshuffle the cards this documenta layed on the table and create new meanings?

The materials

• Selected documentation of documenta 14 artworks and publications, descriptions/mappings of personal pathways in curated spaces, miscellanea

The process

1st step / Bring in all the material and put it on the table. Propose an overview/mind-mapping of the whole exhibition in both Athens and Kassel. Then demonstrate personal perspectives, choose one’s preferred angle of entering the game.

2nd step / Cut and paste, recombine and reformulate the chains of things and ideas, individually, by pairs and collectively. Stand back and reflect on the results. Is there something unexpected to visualize, to phrase differently, to re-collect?

3rd step (simultaneously) / Transcribe visually (with a help of a camera) and rearticulate (in diverse ways) our own tactics of selectively dismantling and recombining documenta traces, in this workshop and in the three others.

4th step (linked to the 3rd step) / keeping in mind and rearticulating through our activity the whole exhibition in process (working with the material coming from the three other workshops)

Participants

Christina Anagnostou | student of social anthropology; Panteion University | Nanne Buurman | art mediator; PhD candidate, Free University Berlin | Maria Juliana Byck | visual artist | Anastasios Fakinos | student of theory and history of Art; Athens School of Fine Arts | Eva Giannakopoulou | visual artist | Vanessa Divani | student of theory and history of Art; Athens School of Fine Arts | Grigoris Gkougkousis | student of social anthropology; Panteion University | Tatiana Ilichenko | visual artist | Dimitra Kondylatou | visual artist | Apostolos Lampropoulos | literary & cultural theorist; University Bordeaux Montaigne | Gwen MacGregor | visual artist, Assistant Professor OCADU Toronto, PhD Candidate Geography University of Toronto | Maria Nikoforaki | visual artist | Vassiliki Sifostratoudaki | visual artist, graphic designer | Chris Wright | anthropologist; Goldsmiths University |