卡塞尔文献展的绝唱：《Exergue》记录了一个时代的衰落

在 Dimitris Athiridis 的 14 小时纪录片《Exergue》中，Adam Szymczyk 和他的策展团队在全球危机中为 2017 年卡塞尔文献展做准备。这部电影批评了该机构的庞大规模和发行而非策展的精神。尽管希姆奇克具有超凡的领导力并收录了非凡的艺术作品，但 2022 年第 15 届卡塞尔文献展还是暴露了该组织的脆弱性，最终导致其消亡。 《Exergue》是对希姆奇克这一代人的性格研究，揭示了艺术世界与社会动荡作斗争的悖论，似乎总是处于崩溃的边缘。

The Documenta's Final Chapter: 'Exergue' Documents the End of an Era

卡塞尔文献展的最后一章：“Exergue”记录了一个时代的终结

As the 14-hour-long documentary "Exergue," chronicling the making of the 2017 Documenta, unfolds, its narrator, Paul B. Preciado, declares: "This Documenta will be unlike any other... It will be the last one... A Documenta for the end times."

随着记录 2017 年文献展制作过程的 14 小时纪录片《Exergue》展开，其旁白保罗·B·普雷西亚多 (Paul B. Preciado) 宣称：“本届文献展将不同于任何其他文献展……这将是最后一届文献展。 .. 一场关于末日的文献展。”

Dimitris Athiridis's film, premiered at the Berlinale, is an uncanny reminder of a time not so long ago when the world seemed on the brink of collapse, albeit in a different way than today. Spanning four years, Athiridis captured 800 hours of footage, following artistic director Adam Szymczyk and his curatorial team as they pieced together "Learning from Athens," an exhibition that took place both in Kassel, Germany, and in Athens, Greece.

迪米特里斯·阿蒂里迪斯 (Dimitris Athiridis) 的电影在柏林电影节首映，不可思议地让人回想起不久前的那个时代，当时世界似乎处于崩溃的边缘，尽管方式与今天不同。在艺术总监 Adam Szymczyk 和他的策展团队的带领下，Athiridis 历时四年拍摄了 800 小时的镜头，将在德国卡塞尔和希腊雅典举办的展览“向雅典学习”拼凑在一起。

"Exergue" offers a glimpse into an art world grappling with the constant presence of impending doom. As the curators navigate crises, including gunshots in Beirut, arson attacks by alt-right groups, and the Paris terrorist attacks, Szymczyk's voiceover reflects: "We have to be more radical, like never before."

《Exergue》让我们得以一窥艺术世界如何应对持续存在的即将到来的厄运。当策展人应对危机时，包括贝鲁特的枪击事件、另类右翼团体的纵火袭击以及巴黎的恐怖袭击，希姆奇克的画外音反映出：“我们必须比以往更加激进。”

Despite the ongoing turmoil, the party Szymczyk refers to continues to end and resume. It's the same party that ended with the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, only to return in turbo mode with pop-up art events in Seoul, Hong Kong, and Los Angeles. It's a party that's so grotesque that it must constantly end for us to bear its existence.

尽管骚乱仍在继续，希姆奇克所指的政党仍在继续结束和恢复。这个派对在 2020 年因新冠肺炎 (COVID-19) 大流行而结束，但又以涡轮模式回归，在首尔、香港和洛杉矶举办了快闪艺术活动。这是一个如此怪诞的政党，它必须不断地结束，让我们忍受它的存在。

The premiere of "Exergue" comes at a time when the renowned Documenta organization appears to be in its final throes, following the controversies surrounding its fifteenth edition. The 2022 exhibition, curated by ruangrupa, included anti-Semitic imagery that sparked outrage in Germany, while the appointment of the director for Documenta 16 was marred by accusations of anti-Semitism.

《Exergue》首映之际，这个著名的文献展组织在围绕第十五届文献展引发争议之后，似乎正处于最后的阵痛之中。 2022 年的展览由鲁昂鲁帕 (ruangrupa) 策划，其中包含的反犹太图像在德国引发了愤怒，而第 16 届卡塞尔文献展主任的任命也因反犹太主义的指控而受到损害。

In an open letter, Ranjit Hoskotés, a member of the finding committee, resigned, citing the organization's unwillingness to engage in a nuanced discussion about anti-Semitism and its restrictions on empathy. He lamented the loss of moral compass within the institution.

在一封公开信中，调查委员会成员兰吉特·霍斯科特斯辞职，理由是该组织不愿就反犹太主义及其对同理心的限制进行细致入微的讨论。他对机构内部道德准则的丧失感到遗憾。

In the same month, "Artforum" dismissed its editor-in-chief, and key members of the editorial staff staged a walkout, signaling a wave of upheaval within modernist institutions. It seemed that the party might finally be over, not due to #MeToo, austerity measures, or the pandemic, but rather due to a strange and deliberate mobilization of guilt under the shadow of real political violence.

同月，《艺术论坛》解雇了主编，编辑部主要成员举行罢工，标志着现代主义机构内部掀起了一波剧变。这场派对似乎最终可能会结束，不是因为#MeToo、紧缩措施或大流行病，而是因为在真正的政治暴力的阴影下，一种奇怪的、故意的负罪感动员。

Throughout its 14-hour runtime, "Exergue" becomes an intimate character study of Szymczyk and his generation. The Polish curator, with his lanky frame and distinctive style, embodies the zeitgeist of the 2000s. He is a dreamer, a fantast, and perhaps the director of the last Documenta.

在整个 14 小时的播放过程中，《Exergue》成为了对希姆奇克及其这一代人的深入人物研究。这位波兰策展人身材瘦长，风格独特，体现了 2000 年代的时代精神。他是一个梦想家，一个幻想家，也许还是上一届文献展的导演。

The film reveals a cohort of creative minds whose powerlessness in the face of practicalities is contrasted with their brilliance in projection. Szymczyk's charm captivates the viewer, even as the documentary's sheer length becomes a test of patience.

这部电影揭示了一群富有创造力的人，他们在现实面前的无力感与他们在投影方面的才华形成鲜明对比。希姆奇克的魅力吸引了观众，尽管这部纪录片的长度对耐心来说是一个考验。

"Exergue" deftly captures the "pot-ness" that Szymczyk both acknowledges and denies. Documenta 14's primary flaw was its excessive size, both financially and artistically. Szymczyk's insistence on broadening the exhibition's identity matrix, distributing funds to as many artists as possible, reveals the ethos of this curatorial team, who see "curating" as a form of economic redistribution.

《Exergue》巧妙地捕捉了希姆奇克既承认又否认的“罐性”。第 14 届卡塞尔文献展的主要缺陷是其在财务和艺术方面的规模过大。希姆奇克坚持扩大展览的身份矩阵，将资金分配给尽可能多的艺术家，这揭示了这个策展团队的精神，他们将“策展”视为经济再分配的一种形式。

This curatorial approach has since become a recipe for major exhibitions, including the upcoming Venice Biennale, which features over 300 artists, primarily from the Global South. Szymczyk dubs it "global shopping," noting that while his own Documenta edition would do "the same, but more," it would also encompass realism in the vein of Gustave Courbet's socialist realism.

此后，这种策展方法已成为大型展览的秘诀，其中包括即将举办的威尼斯双年展，该双年展将展出 300 多名艺术家，其中主要来自南半球国家。希姆奇克将其称为“全球购物”，并指出，虽然他自己的文献展版本将做“相同的事情，但更多”，但它也将包含古斯塔夫·库尔贝的社会主义现实主义脉络中的现实主义。

As the budgetary issues become insurmountable, Szymczyk organizes a meeting at the "Währungskonklave," where the German currency was reconstituted in 1948. The revelation of "money" as an arbitrary construct offers a provisional solution to their problems, a move that combines intellectual ambition with practical absurdity.

随着预算问题变得难以克服，希姆奇克在“Währungskonklave”组织了一次会议，德国货币于 1948 年在这里重新组建。“金钱”作为任意概念的揭示为他们的问题提供了一个临时解决方案，这一举措结合了智力野心具有实际的荒谬性。

Preciado's quip about "the last Documenta" echoes less like a grim prediction than a statement of intent. Documenta 14 almost succeeded in its accelerationist plot to dismantle modernism and capitalism, if only the art hadn't been as good as it was.

普雷西亚多关于“最后一次文献展”的俏皮话与其说是一个严峻的预测，不如说是一种意图的陈述。第十四届卡塞尔文献展几乎成功地实现了其瓦解现代主义和资本主义的加速主义阴谋，只是艺术没有那么好。

For as Daniel Birnbaum remarked in "Artforum," amidst the allegory and auto-ethnography, there was a "show-within-a-show," a trove of compelling and insightful works. Seven years on, indelible memories remain: Alina Szapownikow's collaboration with Lorenza Böttner, Stanley Whitney's color fields, Vivian Suter's installation in the Acropolis Park, and Jonas Mekas's projections in the train station.

正如丹尼尔·伯恩鲍姆（Daniel Birnbaum）在《艺术论坛》中所说，在寓言和自我民族志中，存在着一场“秀中秀”，这是一系列引人入胜且富有洞察力的作品。七年过去了，不可磨灭的记忆依然存在：Alina Szapownikow 与 Lorenza Böttner 的合作、Stanley Whitney 的色域、Vivian Suter 在卫城公园的装置以及 Jonas Mekas 在火车站的投影。

The artists featured in Documenta 14 have since become fixtures across the European institutional landscape, and the issues raised by Preciado continue to resonate. While no one could have anticipated it at the time, Documenta 14 left an indelible mark, its impact persisting long after its conclusion.

第 14 届卡塞尔文献展中的艺术家已成为欧洲机构景观中的固定人物，普雷西亚多提出的问题继续引起共鸣。尽管当时没有人预料到，第十四届卡塞尔文献展留下了不可磨灭的印记，其影响在结束后很长一段时间内仍然存在。

In contrast, Documenta 15 lacked the exhibition-within-the-exhibition, and its anti-Semitism scandal could not have occurred in the same way in 2017 due to the complex object ontology that Documenta 14 had established within the field of contemporary art.

相比之下，第15届卡塞尔文献展缺乏展中展，而第14届卡塞尔文献展在当代艺术领域所建立的复杂的物体本体论，也不会像2017年那样发生反犹太主义丑闻。

When theorist "Bifo" Berardi's performance was canceled in Documenta 14 for comparing the refugee crisis to the Holocaust, a new performance was staged in response. Roetstaele's explanation of the German government's reluctance to include the recovered estate of Nazi art dealer Hildebrand Gurlitt in the exhibition highlights the government's desire to use the paintings as an opportunity to expiate guilt publicly.

当理论家“Bifo” Berardi 在第 14 届文献展上的表演因将难民危机与大屠杀进行比较而被取消时，一场新的表演作为回应而上演。罗特斯塔尔对德国政府不愿将纳粹艺术品经销商希尔德布兰德·古利特追回的遗产纳入展览的解释凸显了政府希望利用这些画作为公开赎罪的机会。

Five years later, Taring Padi's caricature presented another such opportunity, but this time ruangrupa, who had successfully avoided the art world "pot," lacked the tools to defend themselves. The aftermath revealed art reduced to an arbitrary outcome of community activity, an approach that spells disaster for the art world.

五年后，塔林·帕迪的漫画再次提供了这样的机会，但这一次成功避开艺术界“锅”的鲁昂格鲁帕却缺乏自卫的工具。后果表明艺术沦为社区活动的任意结果，这种做法给艺术界带来了灾难。

Documenta 14 also shared the pretension of seeking real social impact in Athens, fostering relationships beyond being a transient phenomenon. However, Szymczyk's desire to have both cultural prestige and grassroots credibility proved to be a double-edged sword.

第十四届卡塞尔文献展也同样希望在雅典寻求真正的社会影响，培养关系，而不仅仅是短暂的现象。然而，希姆奇克想要同时拥有文化声望和草根信誉的愿望被证明是一把双刃剑。

In the end, the fundamental question remains: what impact could Documenta possibly have had on Athens, the refugees, or the world at large? Was its presence in Athens a form of crisis tourism? Yes. But it was also an art exhibition, an intellectual, political, and artistic proposal that was rare in its scope and ambition.

最后，根本问题依然存在：文献展可能对雅典、难民乃至整个世界产生什么影响？它在雅典的存在是一种危机旅游吗？是的。但这也是一次艺术展览，一次思想、政治和艺术的提议，其范围和雄心都是罕见的。

"Exergue" captures the efforts of sharp and creative minds playing a game that could not be won, a testament to the constant struggle of the art world to find its place in a world on the brink of collapse.

《Exergue》捕捉到了敏锐而富有创造力的头脑在玩一场无法获胜的游戏时所付出的努力，证明了艺术界为在崩溃边缘的世界中找到自己的位置而不断奋斗的证明。