Conference: Art – Exhibition – Discourse. Art and theoretical discourse at the documenta and other venues of contemporary art

Date: Thursday, June 25, 2026 – Saturday, June 27, 2026
Venue: Fridericianum, Friedrichsplatz 18, 34117 Kassel
Opening: June 25, 6 pm
6.30 pm Keynote: Prof. Dr. Philipp Felsch (HU Berlin)

No registration required, free admission.
The conference will be held in German and English.

How much theory is there in art – and how much art is there in theory? This question has shaped debates around documenta at least since its 10th edition in 1997, when Catherine David placed theoretical discourse at the center of the exhibition. Nearly 30 years later, the curator of the upcoming documenta 16, Naomi Beckwith, revisited this question: in her exhibition ECHO DELAY REVERB at the Palais de Tokyo in Paris, she examined the influence of poststructuralist and postcolonial theories on US-American art.

The conference “Art – Exhibition – Discourse” takes up these considerations. Around a year before the next documenta, it brings together scholars from various disciplines, artists, and interested audiences to explore, through lectures and discussions, the role of theoretical discourse in exhibitions of contemporary art. The focus lies on its diverse functions and modes of application: its influence on artistic practices, its transformation into aesthetic forms, as well as the role of exhibitions as sites for the production and circulation of theory. Different perspectives come into focus – from the exhibition as an epistemic medium to the emergence and impact of theory within artistic practices, to documenta as a global discursive space, and to the political fault lines of contemporary art.

Speaker:
Bill Balaskas, Paul Buckermann, Heinz Bude, Philipp Felsch, Bettina Funcke, Lars Gertenbach, Ana Hoffner, Berit Hummel, Philipp Kleinmichel, Jasmin Kolkwitz, Christiane Kues, Sebastian Lederle, Oliver Marchart, Andreas Niegl, Gerhard Panzer, Georg Simmerl, Reilly Smethurst, Felix Vogel, Mi You, Thomas Zingelmann

The conference is organized by the documenta Institut and the Section for Cultural Sociology of the German Sociological Association. Further information on the conference program will follow shortly.