Documentary art works have played a defining role in art production of the late 20th and early 21st century. At the same time their status in an art context has been questioned. In the context of globalization, the representation of the real became once again an important problem in the field of art. Political and economical upheavals prompted a renewed interest for social reality and its documentary mediation. Furthermore, the failure of mainstream media to deal with current events in apropriate ways made documentary art practices take up a compensatory position. By merging with art traditions such as video-, performance- and conceptual art, documentary forms were reinvented and reinvigorated. A wide range of recent documentary works attests to a new diversity of forms, ranging from conceptual mockumentaries to reflexive photo essays, from split screen slide shows to found footage video reportage. Although innovative documentary art forms abound, little has been discussed and even less has been written about the contemporary boom of documentary forms. The Greenroom will address urgent questions about the history of documentary art forms in the context of globalising media and an expanding art world. It will investigate the relationship of fact and fiction, media and mediation, the question of archive and copyright, and the shifting role of documentary forms in the age of digital reproduction.
The Artists
Peggy Ahwesh (New York), Chantal Akerman (Paris), Fikret Atay (Batman), Julie Ault & Martin Beck (New York), Yael Bartana (Tel Aviv), Petra Bauer (Stockholm), Christine Borland (Glasgow), Matthew Buckingham (New York), Gerard Byrne (Dublin), Nathan Coley (Glasgow), Annika Eriksson (Malmö/Berlin), Harun Farocki (Berlin), Omer Fast (New York), Andrea Geyer (Freiburg/New York), Carles Guerra (Barcelona), Emily Jacir (Ramallah/New York), Amar Kanwar (New Delhi), Klub Zwei (Vienna), Joachim Koester (Copenhagen), Nestor Kruger (Toronto), Marysia Lewandowska (London), Julia Meltzer & David Thorne (Los Angeles), Carlos Motta (Bogota/Brooklyn), Deimantas Narkevicius (Vilnius), Rosalind Nashashibi (London) and Lucy Skaer (Glasgow/Basel), Olivia Plender (London), Walid Raad (New York), Mark Raidpere (Tallinn), Michael Rakowitz (New York/Chicago), Inta Ruka (Riga), Natascha Sadr Haghighian (Berlin), Anri Sala (Tirana/Berlin), Katerina Seda (Brno/Prague), Solmaz Shahbazi (Tehran/Stuttgart), Stephen Shore (Tivoli, NY), Simon Starling (Glasgow/Copenhagen), Hito Steyerl (Vienna/Berlin), Rirkrit Tiravanija (Buenos Aires/Bangkok/New York/ Chiang Mai), Gitte Villesen (Copenhagen/Berlin)
And a selection of works from the Marieluise Hessel Collection, including work by: Tina Barney, Bernd & Hilla Becher, Vanessa Beecroft, Joseph Beuys, Christian Boltanski, Manuel Alvarez Bravo, Sophie Calle, Larry Clark, Valie Export, Saul Fletcher, Günther Förg, Nan Goldin, Felix Gonzalez-Torres, Jitka Hanzlová, Mona Hatoum, Jenny Holzer, Mary Kelly, Lisa Kereszi, Louise Lawler, An-My Lê, Ana Mendieta, Enrique Metinides, Boris Mikhailov, Gabriel Orozco, Jack Pierson, Martha Rosler, Lise Sarfati, Cindy Sherman, Kiki Smith, Karlheinz Weinberger, and Kohei Yoshiyuki.
The Greenroom: Reconsidering the Documentary and Contemporary Art is curated by Maria Lind.
CCS Bard | Exhibitions and Events | Exhibitions
