Both art professionals and the public concerned have high expectations of this event, which is held every five years in Kassel, and aims at offering an enlightening vision of contemporary art. The director, Catherine David, has conceived this tenth edition of Documenta in four parts: an exhibition which inscribes itself into the urban fabric of Kassel, a book, a program of guest lecturers, and a site on the Internet; each section questions the state of culture at the end of this century.

The exhibition, entitled Parcours provoked the most vivid reactions, negative as well as positive. Some judged Catherine David’s approach as too academic. Others, on the contrary, welcomed her intellectual rigour. However, when consulting the opinions voiced on the Internet, one finds many criticisms addressing the feeble presentation of non-Western art in the exhibition.

For Catherine David, this can be easily explained by the fact that the most daring messages conveyed by artists from different countries can be found in artworks pertaining to disciplines other than the visual arts, such as music, literature, theatre, and cinema. Many curators and art critics expressed their disagreement with this position. The group Universes in Universe, which has the mission to promote non-Western art, interviewed several individuals who are concerned with the issue. On the Web site of this group, there are links to articles which treat the same subject.

Overall, the reactions to the program of the guest lecturers and to the Web site created for Documenta X were positive. The series 100 Guests/100 Days is one of the most significant parts of the event. Every day, during the hundred days, artists and intellectuals are invited to give a talk. Including participants from different parts of the world, who work in various spheres of knowledge, the program seems to have met most expectations with its variety.

It is of interest to note that the past conferences can be seen on the Web site of Documenta X, and the ongoing ones can be seen live, every day at 7:00 p.m., Kassel’s time. Among the artists invited to talk about their work are Jeff Wall, Michelangelo Pistoletto and Mike Kelley. Most conferences are in English or in German.