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Subject: Letter home
From: marjan <marjan@kud-fp.si>
Date: Tue, 05 Aug 1997 19:52:35 METDST

* * * * *

LETTER TO HOME FROM DOCUMENTA X,

by Dimitri Pilikin


At Documenta X:, there appears to be a pause in art.

This is a time when documents are devalued , as a form of
definition and as incitement to react. This declaration is
deliberate and courageous. It can be seen on the Documenta
logo - a red cross is placed over the letter "d" - a
traditional way of marking price reductions in shop windows.
This devaluation is also shown in the scale of the exhibition.
Having brought with me an impression of Documenta IX, Documenta
X looks like a domestic, small space: I don't recognise the
space where I was in 1992. But all this is very apt, because
Documenta X is a period of reflection and reconsideration.
Processes of art-making are acquiring value, and are moving
into the charmed circle of contemporary art. In the meantime,
art objects are losing connection with real human life. You
can see this in the last Venice Biennale. Everything was
understandable, everything was absolutely calculated: mistakes
and risks were excluded. But the best products of contemporary
art are discussion, conversation and reflection: in point of
fact, communication. Naturally: Documenta X is not without net-
space, and Hybrid WorkSpace has created its own niche.

Documenta X is also a period to reckon up the 1990's. This
has been a time where the female message in contemporary art
has been recognised: this is a time of emotional and sensitive
practice.

Documenta X is also a period when borders have become a
context. Its a time of consideration to peripheral zones,
which harness new energy. The V2_East / Syndicate workshop -
the deep europe programme - is a demonstration of an absolutly
particular experience of art production. For example: the
video programme from Yugoslavia represents totally different
relationships between the categories of society, freedom,
politics, revolution and blood. Revolution is now discredited
as a form of life, and as a form of art. The revolutionary has
now joined the establishment and looks like a decorative
figure. But if art is a process of continuous reinvention, how
can it manage without revolution? It is at this point that
East meets West, because our common problem is our loss of
contact with society as well as community. We need channels of
communication as a common ritual, and without them we fall into
despair.

Revolution is now an embodied experience. It is the experience
of ex-Yugoslavia, Albania, Russia. It is not only political,
it is of the body. It involves real blood, violence and
terror. But this is not all. Revolution is also an experience
of communities brought together. It shows the value of ritual
as a means of alleviating emotional and psychological problems.

Protests transform to carnival, with an intense feeling of
community. All boundaries of meaning are breached. There is
no generation gap, no racial distinctions, no religious
conflicts, no gender problems, no difference between rich and
poor. There is only absolute happiness experienced in the
moment.

Kassel, August 2nd 1997