The following article is from our May 2007 issue.

Fascinated by the Form documenta 12: For those who want to know what's happening in the art world - By Hanno Rauterberg

Roger Buergel and Ruth Noack, the curators of this year's documenta, are focused on the essence of art and its form. The works will be the center of attention instead of the artists.

Kassel of all places - it's a sleepy one-horse town not far from Frankfurt, poor and provincial with high unemployment and not known for its beauty.

At the same time, one cannot deny that the city is a major center for contemporary art, one that hosts the documenta exhibition every five years. It is attended by those who want to know what's happening in the art world: the well-to-do and collectors, museum directors and artists from Tokyo, Los Angeles and Johannesburg. And then there are always the many non-industry visitors.

The last documenta in 2002 attracted more than 650,000 visitors, making it the most successful contemporary art exhibition in the world.

During the summer, this "Museum for 100 Days" will open its door once again to hundreds of thousands, and again raise the question of why this event is really so successful. How did a city like Kassel, which tourists usually avoid, become the epicenter of the avant-garde?

It all began in 1955. Like many other German cities at the time, Kassel had been razed to the ground. Even the monumental Fridericianum, Europe's first public museum, built in 1779, was nothing more than a ruin.

But art was exhibited in the middle of the ruin - and not just any art but that which had been banned and destroyed by the National Socialists. Painter and architect Arnold Bode was the one who came up with the idea. He wanted to show the Germans what they had been missing during the Hitler years - and also found many supporters for the project.

The Museum of Modern Art in New York sent Pablo Picasso's mysterious "Girl before a Mirror" and Henri Matisse's "L'Atelier Rouge" to the show. Cubist artworks by Georges Braque and Fernand Léger came from Paris. Henry Moore was also represented with important sculptures at this first documenta. And so it came to pass that in the middle of a provisionally arranged museum, on pressboard walls, with insulating wall panels made of wood shavings and synthetic curtains, an exhibition materialized that would make history.

Even then, there were a surprising number of visitors who come to see the 670 works by 148 artists from 13 countries. This was partly due to the fact that a large garden show was taking place at the same time not too far away from the museum. As a result, many stopped by for a look on their way to the flowers and model gardens. In the end, there were 134,850 visitors and many were extremely enthusiastic. "There are fortunate moments in the world where the fog lifts and the perspective widens," wrote a critic at the time. "This seemed to be just such a moment."

Today, audiences are used to large exhibitions like the documenta. Biennials are popping up everywhere and gigantic museums are being inaugurated all over the world. But at that time, such mega-events were still a rarity. Only the Venice Biennial appeared to be able to measure up to Kassel.

However, in Venice, the biennial was and remains an event where individual countries present their own small exhibitions. The documenta was the only one that offered a large exhibition cut from one cloth, thereby permitting a wide overview of contemporary art.

And so it didn't take long before the international scene also took note of Kassel. First every four years, later every five, the documenta set new records and showed many spectacular works of art. Christo presented a giant inflatable sculpture. Joseph Beuys had 7,000 oaks planted. Walter de Maria sank his famous "Vertical Earth Kilometer" into the ground in Kassel.

A new curator is appointed for almost every documenta and almost every one of them wanted to reinvent the exhibition and outdo their predecessor. The show in 1972 was particularly memorable after curator Harald Szeemann exceeded the traditional limits of art. He opened the exhibition to a flood of images of kitsch as well as to advertising and science fiction. In doing so, he made the documenta a beacon of new artistic freedom.

The director of this year's documenta, Roger M. Buergel, is rather suspicious of so much exuberance. He says he doesn't want to open "an exhibition intoxicated by the contemporary." In fact, he believes the art should again reflect upon its history.

This doesn't mean that Buergel isn't interested in sensational art attractions. For example, he has invited Chinese artist Ai Wai Wai who plans to bring 1,001 of his fellow countrymen to Kassel as a sort of giant performance.

But the real sensation will be a different one. If all goes well then documenta 12 could even revolutionize the art world.

The last two documenta shows were more like studies than exhibitions. They produced hefty volumes of theory and aroused a queasy feeling in many visitors that they needed to have studied three semesters of post-structural philosophy in order to be at all worthy of contemporary art. Buergel and his wife Ruth Noack, co-curators this time, have forgone these sorts of intimidating exhibits.

Their catalogue will be slender, a sort of shorthand guide. They're complimenting it with a large volume that will contain nothing more than photographs. Buergel and Noack want to explain the gist of their exhibition through the singular use of visuals. It should only come down to the interplay of the forms. "It will be a shock," says Buergel.

It will be a shock because while there may be much talk of art currently, it is almost always the artist that is the focus, his or her intent and experiences. Or it's the stratospheric market prices, narratives about trends or miscellaneous minor matters.

Buergel and Noack are reacting against trivialization. They don't see themselves as trendsetters, fighters for the avant-garde, harbingers of novelty. They reflect upon what art in its essence represents - its form.

This includes the unlimited varieties of calligraphy. They're also reflecting upon the question of how these forms are propagated, how they cross borders and how the most diverse cultures appropriate them for themselves.

"At some point, I found myself more interested in old temples than in artists' ateliers and art museums," says Buergel. To only move along the thin crust of the contemporary seems strangely limiting to him. documenta 12 will be the first that unceremoniously reaches far back into history.

It's breaking with the dogma of innovation as he doesn't want it to be an exhibition in which the contemporary only reflects itself. "Why should it be a matter of when an artwork is created," he asks. "The only important thing is that it appears to be topical to us now."

The oldest picture that will be shown in Kassel is from the 14th century, a Persian miniature from the archives of Berlin's museums, artist unknown. It shows a landscape, which is unusual enough. Mountains or trees were usually just used as decoration by artists of that time.

But Buergel is especially fascinated by the form. "The artist traveled from Persia to China, which can also be seen in the picture," he says. "The river and the rocks are Chinese with their curved lines. The artist integrated them into the Persian landscape." Buergel calls this a "migration of form."

In Kassel, visitors will set their eyes upon many such migrations. The viewing should be enjoyable, at least that's how the two curators want it to be. But it's also work which they freely admit immediately afterward.

It isn't about indulgence but about scrutinizing and comparing, about ferreting out possible connections, about doubt and reasoning. It's also about putting up with the art when it doesn't wish to reveal itself. "We like it best when visitors enter the exhibition and remain silent for as long as possible," Buergel says.

Will they actually remain silent? Regardless, everyone will again be talking about the documenta once again.

- Hanno Rauterberg is cultural editor at the Hamburg weekly Die Zeit.