VIENNA, AUSTRIA.- Parallel to this year’s Documenta 11, the Kunsthalle Wien together with the documenta archive in Kassel will investigate the myth of the documenta 5 from 1972 in a medially staged exhibition using original archive material made public for the first time.

The documenta, as the unofficial world art exhibition, belongs to the myths of the art industry. Like no other exhibition, the documenta 5 under the leadership of the Swiss exhibition maker Harald Szeemann, has been idealized in retrospect. From the Museum der 100 Tage, he wanted to create a 100-day event. At the center were not only art works, but also "parallel picture worlds" with material from daily life, advertising, science fiction, and national piety. In addition, the sections of artist’s museums, the so-called individual mythologies and the presentation of photorealism caused a sensation. Greatly controversial at the time of its creation, this path-breaking exhibition has long been inscribed in the consciousness of generations not present in 1972. The documenta 5 probably remains the most deeply carved caesura in the exhibition culture of the twentieth century - an attack on the hitherto common practices of curatorial work and artistic presentation.