He sees the interpretation of the facts as privileging an ethno-centric vision, across which an unhealthy fracture is being created between two civilisations; victims and executioners are transformed into worlds which are civilised and otherwise. CNN itself dealt with events by creating a polarisation between good and evil, using the faces of the two civilisations.

To interpret a difficult political situation such as the clash between West and East, he maintains, is a damaging and dangerous strategy which ends up using the same politics as the terrorists: terror. Terrorism, even when pursued in the name of God or the state, is not an expression of cultural difference, but an organised political act, dangerous not just for America but also to the downtrodden populations who live in countries under totalitarian regimes.

Homi K Bhabha closes the meeting expressing the hope of being able to stabilise a vision of global society which forgets the idea of us and them and is inspired by civil liberties and human rights and an awareness of duties and responsibilities.

So, a platform of thought on contemporary issues in which gurus and other illustrious names from a range of fields: economists, writers, philosophers, literary figures, film experts, political scientists and Nobel prize winners, will be looking into themes such as “creolity and creolisation” or “experiments on truth”. Focussing the dynamics of cultural integration in the age of globalisation and helping Enwezor to create a kind of critical summary of current events, as well as making the resulting choices of the curator more understandable.

Okwui Enwezor, Artistic Director of Documenta 11 and the Co-Curators (left to right) Mark Nash, Okwui Enwezor, Carlos Basualdo, Octavio Zaya, Ute Meta Bauer, Susanne Ghez, Sarat Maharaj. Photo: Werner Maschmann © Documenta

Okwui Enwezor is not alone in these Pindaric flights, he shares his efforts with a team of co-curators: Carlos Basualdo, Susanne Ghez, Sarat Maharaj, Ute Meta Bauer, Octavio Zaya, Mark Nash, with whom he is currently travelling around Italy visiting artists studios and private galleries, a visit which is something akin to a lottery ticket. There is no need to underline how valuable an invitation to Kassel is, especially for the Italian art scene which has little exposure in terms of institutional appointments. However, it seems that before next June, or to be more precise June 6, it will not be possible to have the official list of the 100 selected.

To satisfy our curiosity we can only look to the newspaper Kunstzeitung or other pseudo published lists in relevant magazines, which are not to be relied on according to the event press office. An atmosphere therefore of suspense in classic Documenta style: in the last edition the Federation of the association of European art galleries protested against Catherine David for having made the selections official too late, making the work of private galleries difficult.

Documenta takes place every five years and in five years a lot can happen. Okwui Enwezor is sensitive to the concepts of identity, cultural transformations and migrations. This promises us an exhibition capable of a global vision, essential for the world to be considered as a whole. A quality that can guarantee not just a certain continuity, but also project towards the future. Good luck!

Documenta 11
Date: June 8th – September 15th, 2002
Place: Kassel, Germany
Tel: +49 (0)561 70 7270
info@documenta.de
https://www.documenta.de