Documenta 15: The Event that Made lumbung the Most Famous Word in the Art World of 2022

Abstract

This year’s Documenta, the fifteenth in a row in the city of Kassel, confirmed its status as the most important international exhibition of contemporary art when it comes to innovative approaches to exhibitions as a medium. Compared to previous editions, it was specific in many ways, primarily in appointing a collective, rather than an individual, as the artistic director. The aim of the Indonesian collective ruangrupa was to offer alternative perspectives, those of the global south, to the capitalist structures of the West. Promoting the ideas of sharing, cooperation, and sustainability, ruangrupa introduced the Indonesian agrarian model of lumbung, which means communal collecting and distribution of surplus rice, as the core concept of the exhibition. Accordingly, the curatorial collective decentralized its position by giving the invited guests the autonomy to invite other collectives and artists in turn. The result was a dynamic exhibition with the largest number of participants so far, the fewest of whom were professional artists.