documenta is Kassel’s greatest artistic treasure, the famous city’s most engaging and enriching link to the modern world, the celebration that everyone looks forward to the most, but the magic only comes to town every five years. How to prolong and embrace the festival in those long years between editions? With a tremendous permanent exhibition of course! It is only fitting that the festival get its own permanent exhibition in the city’s Neue Galerie, an apt spot considering the links between the gallery and the festival itself. The gallery has been a centra part of the festival since 1964 and began putting together a collection in 1982 — where else could the exhibit be?

Opened in late 2019, ‘about: documenta’ is exactly what you hope it is going to be, namely a marvellously intricate and detailed love letter to one of the world’s great artistic celebrations. Different rooms shine lights on the history of the festival, with a special ‘Gallery of Memory’ delighting with media collages and more. Being documenta-related, visitors to the exhibition are not mere bystanders, instead active participants in the magic of expression. The exhibition is a spectacular tribute to a spectacular festival, documenting its evolution from Arnold Bode’s brainchild into an event of serious international importance. documenta has changed its form over the years and will continue to do so as art hurtles through the 21st century, and we can’t wait to see what comes next.