Every five years the art world converges on the sleepy city of Kassel, in upper Hesse. From the 18th-century folly on the Wilhelmshöhe as from the drab inner city, with its uninviting postwar architecture, crowds move toward the Fridericianum to see how the curators of this installment of the Documenta exhibition have represented contemporary art. Documenta IX opens to the public on 13 June. This year’s curator is Jan Hoet, assisted by Pier Luigi Tazzi, Denys Zacharopoulos, and Bart de Baere. The team has invited some 180 artists—from Africa to Australia, Europe, and Asia, as well as from both Americas—to plan installations and submit new works. As a preview for our readers, Artforum has asked 21 of these artists to submit preliminary sketches or images of the projects they propose. The works-in-progress reproduced here show intermediary stages of the artists’ road to Kassel.
—CVM
