Review relating to an exhibition, 2002
Published by: Frieze Magazine
Year published: 2002
Number of pages: 5

The first of three reviews of Documenta 11, published in Frieze, issue 69, September 2002, totalling 14 pages (pp. 80 - 93). The reviews, all liberally illustrated, were written by Thomas McEvilley, Kobena Mercer and Dan Fox.

Title: Documenta 11
Author: Thomas McEvilley

Article is broad overview of the Platform_5 entity of Documenta 11 with a great deal of contextual information written by the distinguished writer, critic and lecturer, Thomas McEvilly (pp. 81-85). From the article: “Enwezor began his reflections by refering to Chinua Achebe’s classic novel of pre-colonial Africa, Things Fall Apart (1958). He spoke of the emergence of post -colonial identity, and said that he and his collegues had aimed at something much larger than an art exhibition: they were seeking to find out what comes after imperialism… The multicultural agenda for Documenta may said to have begun with Harold Szeeman’s ground breaking Documenta 5 in 1972. In that show (which the brochure on the history of Documenta issued by the current show describes as ‘strongly polarized’) Szeeman included many works not from the academic mainstream of contemporary art. This was the exhibition for which James Lee Byers recommended to Szeeman the title “the Five Continent Documenta“ - historically important as the first recorded mention of the idea of a truly global exhibition; and although Szeeman did not go all the way in that direction, he made significant advances.”