About And …And …And

AND … AND … AND is an artist-run initiative that has used the period of time leading up to dOCUMENTA (13) to consider with individuals and groups across the world the places that art and culture can occupy today and the constituent publics or communities that can be addressed or engaged. In addition to composing a map of emergent positions, concerns, and potential points of solidarity, the series of interventions, situations, and occurrences forms a part of dOCUMENTA (13) beyond the limits of Kassel.

It began in the wreckage of the 2008 financial collapse, which quickly revealed itself to be more than an economic crisis. “The crisis” in fact signaled the failure of a global economic paradigm/regime (which subjects all considerations—whether social, cultural, political, ecological, biological —to the laws of profit) to respond to the complexity of sustaining and reproducing a world in common. Thus, without foregrounding this perspective, the AND … AND … AND events and situations implicitly reflect upon this complexity through the formulation of different questions. Each of the positions, emerging through the work of artists has also constituted a reflection of how AND … AND … AND may relate to Kassel, and might activate processes and inquiries that could manifest themselves during the 100 days of dOCUMENTA (13).

It also begins with a desire to open conjunctions and create short circuits between global problems through attempts at proposals or answers on a local and regional level. This has resulted in various initiatives, one of the most ambitious being a collaboration linking students and researchers from various faculties in the University of Kassel (including those in the departments of organic agricultural sciences, sociology, and landscape planning) with city residents, less formal researchers, local and regional associations. Thus, during the 100 days of dOCUMENTA (13), AND … AND … AND acts as a site to bring together a composition of alternative considerations and practices from near and far.

Through the collaborations in Kassel and other cities prior to dOCUMENTA (13), as well as the involvement of artists, thinkers, and visitors, a möbius strip-like experimental public program will emerge over the 100 days, blurring lines between inside and outside, learning and play, acting and thinking; resulting in food initiatives, urban gardening, therapeutic processes, (un)workshops, screenings, discussions, experiments, and situations inspiring aesthetic or political imaginaries.