Lo schermo dell’arte, in collaboration with the Palazzo Strozzi Foundation, presents exergue – on documenta 14 by Dimitris Athiridis in the spaces of the Strozzina, a fourteen-hour-long film documenting the preparation of the exhibition documenta 14. Using footage shot over two years, Athiridis follows the behind-the-scenes of the world’s most important contemporary art exhibition.
Titled Learning from Athens, the 2017 edition was one of the most contested in documenta’s history. Curator Adam Szymczyk, alongside a curatorial team that included Hila Peleg, Bonaventure Soh Bejeng Ndikung, Pierre Bal-Blanc, and Paul B. Preciado, decided to split the exhibition between Kassel, documenta’s original location, and Athens. This decision led to a financial deficit and a media scandal that drew considerable attention to the show. Criticisms were also leveled at the curatorial approach, perceived as a form of instrumentalization of politically urgent issues such as the migrant crisis, neoliberalism, and the global rise of far-right parties. Through its protagonists and unprecedented access to meetings, studio visits, and press conferences, this fourteen-chapter cinematic work invites viewers to observe the workings of the institutional art world and reflect on the role of contemporary art in an ever-changing global landscape.
Free admission, subject to availability.
View the screening scheduleCover: Dimitris Athiridis, exergue – on documenta 14 (det.), 2024 © Faliro House Productions