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
You can find brief biographies of the individual speakers here.
Bill Balaskas, Paul Buckermann, Heinz Bude, Philipp Felsch, Bettina Funcke, Lars Gertenbach, Ana Hoffner, Berit Hummel, Uta Karstein, Marius Kemper, Philipp Kleinmichel, Jasmin Kolkwitz, Christiane Kues, Sebastian Lederle, Oliver Marchart, Andreas Niegl, Gerhard Panzer, Georg Simmerl, Reilly Smethurst, Felix Vogel, Mi You, Thomas Zingelmann
Program
Thursday, June 25
6 pm | Welcome and Introduction by Lars Gertenbach (University of Osnabrück)
6.30 pm | Keynote Goldene Hochzeit. Zum Verhältnis von Theorie und Kunst von Philipp Felsch (Humboldt University of Berlin), followed by a conversation with Heinz Bude (documenta Institut)
8 pm | Dinner
Friday, June 26
9.30 am | Opening
9.45 am | Panel 1: What Happened to Aesthetics?
Chair: Mi You (Universität Kassel/documenta Institut)
Reilly Smethurst (Stockholm School of Economics): Art is over for Hegel, not over for Badiou
Andreas Niegl (Universität Kassel/documenta Institut): Spectres of Kant. How aesthetic theory (seemingly) disappeared from the canon of art theory and cultural studies
10.45 am | Coffee Break
11 am | Panel 2: Ausstellung als Erkenntnismedium
Chair: Lars Gertenbach (Universität Osnabrück)
Thomas Zingelmann (Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena): Kunst und Theorie im Raum. Zur epistemischen Performativität des Ausstellens
Sebastian Lederle (Bauhaus-Universität Weimar): Immersion und Dislozierung. Ausstellungsräume zwischen Materialität und imaginärem Zeitraum
Bill Balaskas (Kingston University London): Between a Theory of Everything and a Theory of Anything: Revisiting the Epistemic Limits of Mega-Exhibitions
12.30 pm | Lunch Break
1.30 pm | Panel 3: Theorie als Praxis: Kunst zwischen Produktion und Institution
Chair: Uta Karstein (Universität Leipzig)
Christiane Kues (Artist and author, Berlin/Wien): Künstlerische Agency und institutionelle Abhängigkeiten
Philipp Kleinmichel (Universität für angewandte Kunst Wien): Automatisierung und kulturelle Infrastruktur: Theorie und Praxis der Situationistischen Internationale
Paul Buckermann (Kulturwissenschaftliches Institut Essen): Wofür ist Theorie gut? Wofür sind Kunstausstellungen gut? Rechtfertigungsstrategien und professionelle Grenzarbeit der documenta, 1955-2027
3 pm | Coffee Break
3.15 pm | Lecture by Oliver Marchart (University of Vienna)
4.15 pm | Coffee Break
4.30 pm | Bettina Funcke (author, critic, and editor, New York) in conversation with Felix Vogel (University of Kassel/documenta Institut)
6.30 pm | Dinner
Saturday, June 27
9.30 am | Panel 4: documenta als Raum der Theorieübersetzung
Chair: Marius Kemper (documenta Institut)
Jasmin Kolkwitz (Art historian and independent researcher): Diskursraum vs. Raum für Diskurse. Theoriefiguren und politische Artikulationen im kuratorischen Gefüge der documenta 14
Berit Hummel (Universität Münster): „Raum – Architektur – Kunst – Umwelt“. Urbanismusdiskurse auf der documenta
10.30 am | Coffee Break
10.45 am | Panel 5: Politik, Kunst und Konflikt auf der documenta
Chair: Heinz Bude (documenta Institut)
Gerhard Panzer (Technische Universität Dresden): Praxis der documenta 14 als Kritik des Ausstellungskomplexes
Georg Simmerl (Zentrum für Literatur- und Kulturforschung Berlin): Schlagworte der Theorie, Schlagworte der Kritik und die Unverfügbarkeit der Kunst. Szenen der Debatte um die documenta fifteen
Ana Hoffner ex-Prvulovic* (Artist, independent researcher, and author): Ein Spannungsfeld zwischen Theorie und Praxis – Politische oder entpolitisierende Kunst?
12.15 pm | Closing remarks by Heinz Bude (documenta Institut)
12.45 pm | Closing discussion
Presentations in German will be held in German; presentations listed in English will be held in English.
The conference is organized by the documenta Institut and the Section for Cultural Sociology of the German Sociological Association.
