It's midnight and I've just arrived home after a full day exploring the contemporary artworks in Karlause (the gardens of Kassel), one of the venues for the dOCUMENTA(13). From what I've seen today, you need nearly a week here to truly absorb and engage with these works.
Highlight: Janet Cardiff and George Bures Miller. Sound installation within the forest. Seated under a canopy of trees listening to an orchestra of mixed sound and thematic music. Mesmerising. Immersive. Captivating.
Additional (unexpected highlights): Attended an art evolution piece "Sanatorium" and participated in two projects. Through this experience I met a Journalist from Cologne who follows contemporary art for passion. He said that he finds art helps him balance his professional work (commentary on science, world events and politics). A nice man. Well versed on contemporary art and art events. We walked and talked together for a while as we traversed the gardens, and then after making arrangements to have dinner together, parted to see separate works. Sadly we didn't sync our meeting point very well and didn't end up reuniting.
By this stage, it was getting dark, I was a little cold and ready for dinner, so I was walking towards Kassel centre to call a taxi to head back to the hotel, when I saw a quaint German style restaurant and entered.
Whilst eating my delicious meal accompanied by a local light brew, I was happily reviewing my notes and photographs from the day, and then a man who was seated behind me and I started talking. In Kassel this is easy to do, especially with the distinguishable copy of dOCUMENTA(13) on your dinner table. Dr Joshua Jiang is an Art Curator from London and is curating the Fourth Guanzhou Triennial in China this year. Hence our evening lingered over discussions on art etc etc...
