documenta fifteen takes place in Kassel from June 18 to September 25, 2022. The fifteenth edition of documenta is curated by the Indonesian artists’ collective ruangrupa and is based on the values and ideas of lumbung.
lumbung is the Indonesian word for a communal rice barn where surplus harvest is stored and collectively distributed for the benefit of the community. lumbung is a concrete practice whose principles of collectivity, resource building, and equitable distribution are pivotal to ruangrupa’s curatorial work and impact the entire process of documenta fifteen.
The collective’s way of working is based on an alternative, community-oriented sustainability model in ecological, social, and economic terms. Resources such as time, money, ideas, and knowledge are shared collectively. Practicing lumbung means that the exhibition is not static. It changes over the course of the exhibition and beyond.
The artists of documenta fifteen are called lumbung members and lumbung artists. They also invited other artists to use their common resources and to contribute to the exhibition. Thus, not only ruangrupa but a constantly expanding network shapes documenta fifteen.
lumbung program and the Kassel ekosistem
Kassel is not only regarded as an exhibition venue. Instead, the city is understood as an ekosistem (the Indonesian word for “ecosystem”), as a mesh of social contexts in which documenta fifteen emerges and grows.
During the 100 days of the exhibition, various events organised by the lumbung members and lumbung artists activate the city and the 32 exhibition venues of documenta fifteen. Under the title lumbung program, these events include workshops, demonstrations, listening sessions, conversations, readings, and film screenings. Exhibition venues become meeting places, living rooms, and spaces for discussion and rest.
Together with the invited guests and collaborators, the artists decide on the use of the sites, which do not remain static during the 100 days, but constantly change. lumbung program is about looking at what’s already there, sharing it, and celebrating together.
Walks and Stories: The exhibition walks of documenta fifteen
Friendship and hospitality play an important role in the practice of lumbung. Translated from Indonesian, sobat means friend or companion, the plural of which is sobat-sobat. As friends, the international art mediators sobat-sobat accompany visitors in the processes of collective knowledge sharing. They bridge between participants, lumbung members, lumbung artists and their local and inter-local ekosistems.
Visitors are invited to take part in their exhibition walks, which are called Walks and Stories. As an active part of lumbung knowledge, participants and art mediators alike shape encounters and approaches through their practice of storytelling.
More information on documenta fifteen and tickets via: www.documenta-fifteen.de
