Documenta

documenta 7
19 June - 28 September 1982
Kassel

Artistic Director:
Rudi Fuchs

Rudi Fuchs, the artistic director of documenta 7 in 1982, wanted to free art of the “various constraints and social parodies it is caught up in.” Nor should the exhibition be restricted by a theoretical concept. The works of art should be able to “show themselves unrestrainedly”. Fuchs emphasized the artist's individual nature, but nevertheless saw connections between the artists themselves, as well as recognizing their place in cultural tradition. He incorporated these ideas into his exhibition design which elucidated the works' interrelations and dialogs.

There was a clear museum-oriented character to d7. Fuchs and his assistants stressed that as they as “did not wish to present a nervous exhibition, but one which would do justice to the dignity of art, they had to create peaceful conditions.” The presentation of contemporary art – created by representatives of all generations – remained in the traditional realm of the museum that seeks to protect art from social reality. In the entrance hall to the Fridericianum, this objective was illustrated by James Lee Byars' golden column and Jannis Kounellis' golden wall: both demanded the return of art to something surrounded by mystique. This demand was also the subject of a work by Daniel Buren (“Pennant-Text-Music”), who set up an installation on the Friedrichsplatz featuring flagpoles and flapping pennants that incorporated taped classical music in order to make an ironic reference to the festivity of the occasion.

The classical genres of painting and sculpture featured strongly in d7. In the exhibition design Fuchs devised, artworks were not specifically arranged according to certain artistic styles, groups or geographical correlations, but followed very individual dialogs, attempted to exhibit underlying parallels or open conflicts. Consequently, paintings by A.R. Penck were displayed alongside sculptures by John Chamberlain, or Bruce Nauman was shown next to Keith Haring. By avoiding highlights and focussing clearly on specific topics, this analogizing principle – by dint of which works by the same artist were distributed over several storeys or buildings - resulted in what was succinctly illustrated by Lawrence Weiner's work on the Fridericianum's outer façade: “Many Colored Objects Placed Side by Side To Form A Row of Many Colored Objects .”

But the outstanding work of art at d7 was the work by Joseph Beuys positioned in the documenta grounds and that still lives on in Kassel today. For his sculpture “7000 Oak Trees” the artist had 7,000 basalt stele deposited on the Friedrichsplatz, where he also planted the first tree. In the subsequent 5 years, the remaining 6,999 trees were planted in Kassel – each was placed alongside one of the basalt stele – the last one on the opening day of d8 in June 1987 by Eva Wurmbacher-Beuys, the artist's widow. Beuys died in 1986.

Artists:
Marina Abramović
Carl Andre
Siah Armajani
Richard Artschwager
Vito Acconci
Giovanni Anselmo
Armando
Michael Asher
Anatol
Siegfried Anzinger
Art & Language
Elvira Bach
Robert Barry
Joseph Beuys
Troy Brauntuch
Alberto Burri
Marco Bagnoli
Georg Baselitz
James Biedermann
Marcel Broodthaers
Scott Burton
Gerrit van Bakel
Jean-Michel Basquiat
Dara Birnbaum
Stanley Brouwn
Michael Buthe
John Baldessari
Lothar Baumgarten
Alighiero e Boetti
Günter Brus
James Lee Byars
Miquel Barceló Bernd und Hilla Becher
Jonathan Borofsky
Daniel Buren
Miriam Cahn
John Chamberlain
Sandro Chia
Francesco Clemente
Tony Cragg
Loren D. Calaway
Alan Charlton
Abraham David Christian William N. Copley
Enzo Cucchi
Walter Dahn
Nicola de Maria
Jiří Georg Dokoupil
Marlene Dumas
René Daniëls
Jan Dibbets
Gino de Dominicis
Edward Dwurnik
Hanne Darboven
Martin Disler
Felix Droese
Ger van Elk
Luciano Fabro
Stanislaw Filko
Barry Flanagan
Hamish Fulton
General Idea
Ludger Gerdes
Jack Goldstein
Dan Graham
Isa Genzken
Gilbert & George
Ludwig Gosewitz
Erwin Gross
Hans Haacke
Frank van Hermert
Albert Hien
Hans van Hoek
Rebecca Horn
Keith Haring
J. C. J. van der Heyden
Antonius Höckelmann
Jenny Holzer
Jörg Immendorff
Joan Jonas
Donald Judd
On Kawara
Per Kirkeby
John Knight
Joseph Kosuth
Barbara Kruger
Anselm Kiefer
Pierre Klossowski
Imi Knoebel
Jannis Kounellis
Wolfgang Laib
Barry Le Va
Sol LeWitt
Richard Paul Lohse
Markus Lüpertz
Maria Lassnig
Bernhard Leitner
Christian Lindow
Richard Long
Bertrand Lavier
Sherrie Levine
Guido Lippens
Robert Longo
Luigi Mainolfi
Carlo Maria Mariani
Gerhard Merz
Klaus Mettig
Robert Mangold
Stephen McKenna
Mario Merz
Matt Mullican
Robert Mapplethorpe
Bruce McLean
Marisa Merz
Bruce Nauman
Hermann Nitsch
John Nixon
Maria Nordman
Oswald Oberhuber
Claes Oldenburg
Meret Oppenheim
Eric Orr
Mimmo Paladino
Giulio Paolini
Giuseppe Penone
Sigmar Polke
Brett de Palma
A. R. Penck (Ralf Winkler)
Michelangelo Pistoletto
Norbert Prangenberg
Lee Quiniones
David Rabinowitch
Roland Reiss
Martha Rosler
Reiner Ruthenbeck
Markus Raetz
Gerhard Richter
Ed Ruscha (Edward)
Ulrich Rückriem
Arnulf Rainer
Judy Rifka
Claude Rutault
Robert Ryman
David Salle
Julião Sarmento
Jean-Frédéric Schnyder
Cindy Sherman
Peter Struycken
Salome
Klaudia Schifferle
Horst Schuler
Katharina Sieverding
Hans-Jürgen Syberberg
Remo Salvadori
Barbara Schmidt-Heins
Richard Serra
Ettore Spalletti
Sarkis
Gabriele Schmidt-Heins
Joel Shapiro
Klaus Staeck
Volker Tannert
Imants Tillers
Richard Tuttle
Signe Theill
Niele Toroni
Cy Twombly
Ulay
Emilio Vedova
Toon Verhoef
Jean-Luc Vilmouth
Antonio Violetta
Jeff Wall Andy Warhol
Boyd Webb
Ian Wilson
Franz Erhard Walther
Isolde Wawrin
Lawrence Weiner
Rémy Zaugg
Michele Zaza