S02. documenta fifteen
an exhibition of contemporary art which takes place every five years in Kassel, Germany.
五年一届，在德国城市卡塞尔举办的大型现代艺术集合展。
ruruHaus is the “living room” of documenta fifteen. With “ruangrupa” as the artistic direction of the whole exhibition, which means “art space” or “spatial form”. Founded in Indonesia in 2000, it presents friendship, solidarity, sustainability, and community.
ruruHaus是第十五届文献展的“客厅”。“ruangrupa”是整个展览的艺术指导方向，意为“艺术空间”或“空间形态”。 它于2000年在印度尼西亚成立，代表着友谊、团结、可持续性和共同体。
Five years ago, visiting documenta for the first time changed how I see contemporary art forever. Like never before, I saw a collection of the finest and most meaningful art pieces from around the world, with an incredibly refreshing aesthetic. Both the depth and the diversity of them inspired me so much, that I had to look through the catalog again and again over the past five years for inspiration.
Five years later, standing in front of the documenta Halle, the world and I are both in a very very different place. I am not a freshman in Germany anymore but standing on my own feet working as a designer. We all know now what the world went through, and we are all still going through this together.
It was awakening five years, it was a drastic and restless roller coaster. All these emotions can be clearly seen at the documenta fifteen.
五年前，第一次参观卡塞尔文献展永远改变了我对现代艺术的看法。第一次，我看到了来自世界各地最好，最富有意义的艺术作品的集合，并具有令人难以置信的美感。 他们的深度和多样性如此强烈地启发了我，以至于我不得不在过去五年中一次又一次地浏览目录以寻求灵感。
五年后，再次站在文献展大厅的入口，这个世界与我自己都已与以往不再相同。我不再是初来德国留学的新生，而是已在职场打拼的设计师。我们都知道世界经历了什么，我们都也还在一起经历着。
这是一个让人看清真相的五年，如同一辆急躁而不安的过山车。所有的这些情绪我们都可以在第十五届卡塞尔文献展中清楚地看到。
“lumbung” is the Indonesian word for a communal rice barn, in which the surplus harvest is stored for the benefit of the community.
“lumbung”在印尼语中意为公共谷仓，将剩余的收成储存起来以造福社区。
Being the first Asian group and the first art collective to co-direct such a large-scale international art exhibition, the Indonesian contemporary art collective "ruangrupa" brought "lumbung" as the central idea to documenta fifteen. Originally communal rice-barn in Indonesia, "lumbung" also means friendship, working well together, sharing things, and looking after each other. It is not a concept, but a practice that changes itself dynamically through interactions between people. Therefore, documenta fifteen does not have a theme. It is not about "lumbung", but a practice of doing it.
Being a "living room" in the city center where people can meet up and have all types of interactions, ruruHaus has been a great extraction of the documenta fifteen.
来自印尼的“ruangrupa”作为第一个共同指导如此大型国际艺术展的亚洲艺术团体，将他们的“lumbung”理念带来作为第十五文献展的中心思想。“lumbung”的本意是印度尼西亚的公共米仓，它也代表着友谊、合作、分享和互相照顾。 它不是一个概念，而是一种通过人与人之间的互动而动态改变自己的实践。 因此，第十五届文献展没有主题，不是关于“lumbung”，而是一种以其为出发点的实践。
ruruHaus作为文献展设立在市中心的“城市客厅”，可供包括艺术家和参观者在内的所有人在这里见面并进行各种互动，是对第十五届文献展的一个完美提炼。
Taring Padi. Sekarang Meraka, Besok Kita (Today they've come for them, tomorrow they come for us). 2021
今天他们为他们而来，明天他们为我们而来。
In Hallenbad Ost, one of the few Bauhaus-style buildings in Kassel, the artist group Taring Padi, which is also a member of lumbung, is impossible to be overseen. Founded in 1998 and coming also from Indonesia, their artistic practice is always heavily involved in socio-political and cultural solidarity and action. Their artworks typically include woodcut posters, large-scale banners, and cardboard figures.
Over the years, they have been collaborating with other artist groups around the world to address local socio-political issues using art. They have been going out onto the streets and into the fields, demanding justice and awareness. Organizing, educating, and agitating are the core principles of their practice. Despite the recent controversial antisemitism accusation, the courage of using art to give an impact on our society is something truly inspiring.
在卡塞尔为数不多的包豪斯建筑之一——东区游泳馆旧址，lumbung艺术团体成员之一Taring Padi的特别展览很难不被注意到。自1998年成立以来，这个团体的艺术实践总是与社会政治和文化的团结和行动密切相关。他们的作品通常包括木刻版画海报、大型横幅和纸板人物。
多年来，他们一直与世界各地的其他艺术家团体合作，通过艺术来表达对当地社会政治问题的关注。他们走上街头、走下田野，呼唤正义与人们的意识。组织活动、教育人民和搅动社会是他们实践的核心原则。尽管最近在媒体上有关于其作品的反犹太主义相关指控，但使用艺术对我们的社会产生影响的勇气确实令人鼓舞。
Carnival Remembering four years of the Sidoarjo mud flow tragity. 2010
Sidoarjo泥石流惨剧四周年纪念游行
Protesting against the system, and challenging the power above us is a huge topic this year at documenta. Alongside Taring Padi, loads of other artists dragged visitors' attention to their homelands, which we could never see on any mainstream media. Different forms of artwork spread in all scales of places, building up a phenomenal image of the event. Especially a strong involvement of African and Afroamerican art and culture that probably has never been seen before at documenta was the absolute highlight.
对我们所处体制与系统的抗议，是这一届文献展的重要议题之一。来自各大洲的艺术家和艺术团体们将他们的所见所闻和所经历的、来自他们家乡的一切带到了卡塞尔。遍布城市各个角落、不同体量空间的作品构筑起了这一现象级的盛会。其中本届文献展对来自非洲和非裔美洲艺术家的作品与文化的大幅展示是绝对不可错过、难得一见的精彩。
Wajukuu Art Project. Killing Fear of the Unknown.
消除对未知的恐惧
The architectural installation at documenta Halle was inspired by the Maasai Manyatta (traditional housing for the Maasai People of East Africa) and the informal aesthetics in the slums. The impressive sculpture in the second picture used repetitively sharpened knives.
文献展大厅内的建筑装置灵感来自马赛曼雅塔（东非马赛人的传统住宅）和贫民窟的非正式美学。 第二张照片中令人印象深刻的雕塑使用了反复磨尖的刀。
documenta fifteen: The Nest Collective, Return To Sender, 2022, installation view, Karlswiese (Karlsaue), Kassel, June 14, 2022, photo: Nils Klinger
送返至发件人
This astonishing installation accompanied by a short movie in the tent behind mimics the cloth, plastic, and metal trash exported or “donated” to Africa. It explores the context of the mountain of litter which may only be visiting Kassel public space for 100 days but is a current unending reality in Kenya and many African countries. For me, it was one of the most shocking and provoking artworks at documenta 15. Similar stories are happening in many Asian countries as well, including my motherland China.
这个惊人的装置伴随着后面帐篷里的一部短片模仿了出口或“捐赠”到非洲的布料、塑料和金属垃圾。它探索了垃圾堆积成山的恶劣环境，虽然它在卡塞尔的公共空间只会停留 100 天，但却是肯尼亚和许多非洲国家当前永无止境的现实。对我来说，这是第15届文献展中最令人震惊和发人深省的艺术作品之一。类似的故事也发生在许多亚洲国家，包括我的祖国中国。
documenta fifteen: Atis Rezistans | Ghetto Biennale, installation view, St. Kunigundis, Kassel, June 14, 2022, photo: Frank Sperling
贫民窟双年展
Atis Rezistans | Ghetto Biennale, The Big Chair by Joe Winter at 3rd Ghetto Bienale 2013, Port-au-Prince, photo: Multiversal Services / Lazaros
大椅子
Coming from the Grand Rue neighborhood of downtown Port-au-Prince in Haiti, Atis Rezistans (Resistance Artists) is a dynamic group of talented artists. Their ongoing practice “Ghetto Biennale” invites Haitian and international fine artists, filmmakers, academics, photographers, musicians, architects, and writers, via a global open call, to come to the Grand Rue area to make work or witness the event in their neighborhood and this event has taken place every two years since 2019.
Atis Rezistans（抵抗艺术家）来自海地太子港市中心的 Grand Rue 社区，是一群充满活力的天才艺术家。 他们组织举办的“贫民窟双年展”通过公开征集邀请来自海地和全球的优秀艺术家、电影制作人、学者、摄影师、音乐家、建筑师和作家来到 Grand Rue 地区展示他们的作品或见证当地的发展。自 2019 年以来，该活动每两年举办一次。
documenta fifteen: Fondation Festival sur le Niger, Yaya Coulibaly, The Wall of Puppets, 2022, installation view, Hübner areal, Kassel, June 13, 2022, photo: Maja Wirkus
木偶之墙
Fondation Festival sur le Niger, Procession during the Festival sur le Niger celebration, Ségou 2009, Photo: Harandane Dicko
After its inception in 2005, the Festival sur le Niger quickly became the largest cultural event in Mali and West Africa with its rich program, spanning music, dance, theater, visual arts, and more. Bringing a piece of their beautiful culture and craft to the documenta 15, the colorful and marvelous pieces easily catch every visitors’ eye.
自 2005 年成立以来，尼日尔节以其丰富的节目，涵盖音乐、舞蹈、戏剧、视觉艺术等，迅速成为马里和西非最大的文化活动。他们将尼日尔本土美丽的文化与艺术带到第 15 届文献展，这些色彩缤纷的奇妙作品轻易便吸引了每一位参观者的眼球。
As a designer and artist with an Asian root, I was obviously also looking for Asian influence at documenta 15. After the two days I spent in Kassel, I am positively surprised by the quality and aesthetic I saw and experienced there. It was delightful to dive into a cordial atmosphere that presents the values and cognition I feel close to, from so far away from home. Some pieces are very political and awakening, while others are simple and narrative —— the mixture of variety was truly impressive.
作为一名有亚洲血统的设计师和艺术家，我当然也在第 15 届文献展上寻找着来自亚洲的影响力。在卡塞尔度过两天，我惊讶于在那里看到和体验到的作品质量和审美。能在距离家乡如此遥远的地方体验到一种亲切的氛围，去欣赏那些呈现出我所熟知的价值观和认知的故事，着实是令人愉快的体验。 有些作品非常具有政治性和觉醒性，而另一些则简单而叙事——不同种类艺术品的混合令人印象深刻。
Cao Minghao & Chen Jianjun, Water System Project, Wen Chuan, 2019, photo: Cao Minghao and Chen Jianjun
水系避难所
My first stop was for the Chinese artists Cao Minghao and Chen Jianjun from Chengdu. Their long-term art project Water System Project in Sichuan Province based on research, dialogues, and diverse collaborations reflecting on the local water system's historical changes and contemporary realities represent a very common relation between the facts and the survival of myriad things. This kind of relationship occurred so often in human history that we had to sacrifice our peace with nature for our own good, and is still accurate especially in developing countries nowadays.
我的第一站是来自成都的中国艺术家曹明浩和陈建军。他们的长期艺术项目“水系”基于对四川省水系历史变迁与当代现实的研究、对话和多种合作，代表了事实与万物生存之间非常普遍的关系。这种关系在人类历史上屡见不鲜，我们不得不为了利益去牺牲我们与自然之间的和平，发展中国家尤其如此。
Saodat Ismailova, Chilltan, 2022
In the basement of Fridericianum, under the cozy arcs and in those soft mats, Uzbek female artist Saodat Ismailova gave us a wonderful and unique experience. Coming from the special post-Soviet era and living now between Paris and Tashkent, her point of view is among the most fascinating. For documenta15, she invited 18 artists from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan, working together to enact works involving, amongst others, music, clay sculpture, and film. I felt proud of the subtle and mysterious Asian culture and philosophy when I was there among the predominantly European visitors. The gradual scenes of the films drag the viewer into a deep aesthetic meditation, leaving with an infinite reverie.
在 Fridericianum 的地下室，坐在舒适的拱顶下柔软的垫子里，乌兹别克斯坦女艺术家 Saodat Ismailova 给观者带来了一份美妙而独特的体验。她成长于特殊的后苏联时期，现在生活在巴黎和塔什干两城之间，有着迷人的独到视角。这一届的文献展，她邀请了来自哈萨克斯坦、吉尔吉斯斯坦、塔吉克斯坦和乌兹别克斯坦的 18 位艺术家，共同创作了涉及音乐、雕塑和电影等领域的作品。夹在以欧洲访客为主的观众群体中，我为微妙而神秘的亚洲文化和哲学感到自豪。 影片循序渐进的场景将观者带入深刻的审美沉思，留下无限遐想。
Britto Arts Trust, rasad, 2022
Based in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Britto Arts Trust is an artist-run non-profit collective founded in 2002. With their exploration of missing histories, cultures, and communities, collaborating with various partners, they brought some very interesting core discussions about food politics, culture, and displacement. Their outdoor Bengali kitchen garden palan invited people worldwide to cook their dishes and share their stories and memories. The indoor large-scale installation rasad using crochet, ceramic, metal, and embroidery to mimic a food market in a small town, though, was among the most impressive. In their own words, there is a lot of politics for the food, like mono-agriculture, labor suppression, migration, displacement, war, and famine… The art presentation reflects the fact that a lot of previously basic supplements which people from remote locations with different cultures could produce by themselves can nowadays only be purchased. People are depending on industrial production. This kind of conflict might not be on the central stage in developed countries anymore, however, is and will be a problem for people in the rest of the world in the years to come.
Britto Arts Trust 总部位于孟加拉国的达卡，是一家成立于 2002 年、由艺术家经营的非营利性团体。通过探索缺失的历史、文化和社区，与各种来自不同背景的伙伴合作，他们为文献展带来了一些关于饮食、政治、文化和流浪的核心讨论。他们在户外搭建的孟加拉花园厨房 palan 邀请来自世界各地的人烹饪他们的家乡菜、分享各自的故事和回忆。使用陶瓷、金属和刺绣模拟小镇食品市场的室内大型装置 rasad 则是最令人印象深刻的作品。用他们自己的话说，食品中有很多的政治因素，比如单一农业、廉价劳动力、移民、流浪、战争和饥荒等等……许多以前来自偏远地区的农民本可以自给自足，如今却完全依赖于从资本手中购买、依赖于大规模的工业生产。这样发展与生存之间的冲突可能不再是发达国家的核心议题，却在未来的很长一段时间里将成为世界其他发展中国家和地区人民所面临的巨大难题。
documenta fifteen: Britto Arts Trust, installation view, documenta Halle, Kassel, September 14, 2022, photo: Nicolas Wefers
Getting older definitely changed my way of enjoying art and thinking about the world. In the last year of being twenty-something, I felt the urge to participate in things in a political way, to call for attention and actions. Therefore, I admire all those brave artists from all the continents who are strong enough to march against the hurricane that has been blowing. More than ever, I appreciate this event facilitated by so many talented people, showing this world around us in an unusually satisfying way.
变老确实改变了我享受艺术和思考世界的方式。 在二十多岁的最后一年，我有一种以政治方式参与事物、呼吁关注和行动的冲动。 因此，我很佩服那些来自各大洲的勇敢的艺术家们，他们在狂风暴雨中勇往直前。 我比以往任何时候都更加感谢这么多有才华的人促成的这次活动，以一种异常令人满意的方式向我们展示了这个世界。
documenta fifteen: Trampoline House, 2022, installation view, Hübner areal, Kassel, June 15, 2022, photo: Frank Sperling
Formed in 2010 by a group of artists, curators, refugee rights advocates, and asylum seekers as an antidote to Denmark’s asylum, refugee, and immigration policies, Trampoline House created this soft territory marked by a circle of chalk on the floor. Inside the circle, a public program of performances, debates, and screening of artworks put the Danish asylum system and attitudes towards refugees and migrants into the spotlight.
Trampoline House 由一群艺术家、策展人、难民权利倡导者和寻求庇护者于 2010 年成立，作为对丹麦庇护、难民和移民政策的批判，他们在地板上用粉笔画出一个圈，创造了这个柔软的“领地”。在这个圈内，一个由表演、辩论和影像艺术组成的公共项目将丹麦的庇护制度和对难民和移民的态度置于舆论的聚光灯下。
Of course, art does not have to be functional, political, or even have a purpose. In documenta 15, there are also enough art pieces that straightforwardly show the unique senses of beauty, aesthetics, and the simple joy of creating art itself. The following pieces are among the most impressive to me.
当然，艺术不一定是功能性的、政治性的，甚至不需要有任何的目的。在文献展上也有着足够多的作品简单而不复杂地展示着创作者独特的审美与艺术创作本身的快乐。下面是一些最令我印象深刻的作品。
documenta fifteen: Cinema Caravan and Takashi Kuribayashi, Screening in Outside of Mosquito Net (Out of the Loop), Karlswiese, Kassel, June 19, 2022, photo: Nils Klinger
documenta fifteen: Amol K Patil, Black Masks on Roller Skates, installation view, Kassel, September 13, 2022, photo: Nicolas Wefers
Art is brave. This is what I learned the most from my short stay in Kassel this summer. The boundary between art and media is blurred. To some extent, art is a poetic way to express political and cultural views and demands. We all want to and need to express our opinions, art gives us a pleasing way to accomplish it. I admire and envy the artists who could really make their complex thoughts settle and precipitate into pieces of work.
艺术是勇敢的。 这是我今年夏天在卡塞尔的短暂停留中学到的最多的东西。 艺术和媒体之间的界限是模糊的。 在某种程度上，艺术是一种诗意表达政治和文化观点与诉求的方式。 我们都想要且需要表达我们的个人意见，而艺术给予我们一种美好的方式去实现。我钦佩也羡慕那些真正能把复杂的思想沉淀成作品的艺术家。
“Art is never finished, only abandoned.”