Page 33 - Studio International - September 1968

Outer room of the Alte Galerie

game of sardines nearing its sweaty climax. A new. He wanted a note in the catalogue explaining they would have cost much less. Who had paid for
happening was being spontaneously staged, obvi- why. Of course this would be done, if Takis ar- the burst Christo? Who had underwritten the bill
ously after a great deal of thought, by two artists ranged it himself and payed the printer's bill. Le when all the engineers consulted had doomed the
who weren't even exhibiting. It later became clear Parc and two other artists also withdrew their project to failure from the start? Questions like
that the persons concerned had been waiting in the work somewhat later. these were being asked while Christo himself went
wings outside the door for the Press Chief to let Not all the artists were prepared to do all the on holiday, leaving his wife to infiltrate evening
them in. There are two versions of why he did this. donkey work themselves. After a certain amount of parties to ask rich Americans for funds so that the
The first says that it was staged for the benefit of placing, Cesar left his polystrene thumbs lying symbol of the Documenta could be brought to life
German television. The second suggests that the around with a note pinned to the wall explaining again.
happening was to be staged if and when the why, and Naumann did the same. Other artists Documenta has often stupidly been accused of
journalists' questions reached too near the mark. were having difficulties of another sort. Not all the being rigged and fixed by the dealers. It is one of
Whatever the reason the Press Conference never parts necessary to a Rauschenberg environment the strengths of Documenta that it has been, and
got off the ground. had turned up and he was having trouble with a is, proudly independent. The financial and organ-
Little was learned from the official reception transformer. Light bulbs vital to a Segal couldn't izational chaos which reigned this year, however,
which followed the unfortunate Conference. Those be got in Germany and desperate telegrams were created an interesting situation. Some dealers had
who looked for an artist or two to gauge opinion being sent off to the States. Even at the end of the been in Kassel several days before the opening to
and reaction found none. Local dignitaries were week when the initial fever had subsided Docu- protect the interests of their artists. The practised
there, the Press was meeting the Press over wine menta 4 was still very much in a provisional state. Americans had already succeeded in taking posses-
and sandwiches, and a handful of dealers were ex- Most of the artists conscious of the honour sion of many of the best places for their artists.
changing calculated pleasantries. The artists had Documenta was bestowing on them by inviting During the night after the Press View they took
been turned away at the door by black-suited them to exhibit had been willing to take a certain advantage of the lack of labour and desperate
bouncers; the artists hadn't been invited. In any personal financial loss into account. Many of them shortage of time and undertook large-scale rehang-
case they had work to do. The exhibition had to be had donated prints and multiples to the Documenta ing operations. Noland's new work, for example,
more or less in order for the public the following Foundation and had paid their own fares over to was taken from less well-blessed places and put in
day. sign them. One sculptor sent two assistants to the second most important room in the Frideric-
It was around this point that everyone began to Kassel for the fortnight and paid for much of the ianum. There, he openly invited comparison with
realise just how jittery Documenta was on the ques- cost of erection. He, and others like him, paid up two of the old masters of American painting,
tion of money. An electrician wanted to know who willingly, noting only that it would be interesting, Newman and Louis. Arakawa was also better
would pay him before agreeing to connect up some in all this talk of subsidy and loss, to calculate the situated. Poons, whose dealer wasn't there, was
fans vital to an environment. Apparently all the subsidy which the artists themselves provided. moved away from the central locations he had
local tradesmen had heard that the Documenta Others, in the light of the Takis incident and cer- previously been given. Kelly, whose dealer hadn't
was prepared to meet no more bills. Takis was told tain other imponderable pieces of affront, began presumed to interfere, stayed in a corridor where
that his most recent work had finally arrived in to question the way in which Documenta had got his canvases sank without trace. Hoyland, whose
Geneva after the French strikes had delayed them. through its entire, and not neglible stock of large paintings had at first been in a flattering and
The additional transport costs would amount to Deutschmarks. important room, sought for them next day and
£40 and Documenta had no money left. Couldn't Why had so many American artists had their finally discovered them so far away from the
Takis meet the bill himself? After all it was sug- fares paid over ? Why had so many American paint- major areas that you needed a paper-trail to find
gested, Takis was a wealthy man. Takis withdrew, ings been transported stretched? Rolled and first your way back. His dealer wasn't there either.
not wishing his old work to be shown without the stretched in Kassel—like the work of everyone else— The dealers concerned cannot be blamed. Anyone