By DPA
Kassel (Germany) : Sleuths have so far managed to crack about one third of the secret catalogue for the world's leading contemporary-art expo, Documenta 12, which opens next month.
The 100-day prestige event, held every five years in Kassel, Germany, can turn little-known artists into world celebrities and send market prices for their work soaring.
Documenta chief Roger Martin Buergel and his wife, Ruth Noack, who has the title of curator, have teased arts media by refusing to disclose the list of artists invited to show paintings, sculptures, installations and videos.
The suspense has no parallel in 52 years of Documenta shows. Earlier curators – a new team is appointed at every Documenta – have kept their catalogues secret, but not till three days before the show opens.
Five years ago, Nigerian-born Okwui Enwezor issued publicity brochures naming the main Documenta 11 artists six months in advance and had the full list in print on April 28, 2002, nearly five weeks before opening day.
But German-born Buergel, 44, insists this Documenta, from June 16 to Sep 23, is not about big names but about the art itself.
Spokeswoman Catrin Seefranz denies the motive is secrecy itself. She said the purpose was to protect the working "process" of both artists and curators on-site.
Since a lot of contemporary art consists of big things outdoors rather than framed things on walls, art fans and reporters have been scrutinizing everything arty-looking arriving in Kassel in recent weeks.
A German-language wiki, or Internet site which anybody can edit, is listing the finds so far, and about one third of the names seem to have been uncovered. The artists come from around the world.
Documenta's ruling couple refuse to confirm or deny any names on the website, Regiowiki HNA.
Some names have been deliberately released. On May 11, a link appeared on Documenta's official website to a pornographic video by Japanese artist Hito Steyerl.
Amid a furore, the Munich newspaper Sueddeutsche Zeitung claimed that the naked woman shown in ropes was Steyerl herself 20 years ago. The footage was mixed with news film from the Guantanamo Bay US prison camp.
Steyerl's name is still on the website with the motto "Bondage all over the place," but the video has gone.
Documenta officials initially claimed someone hacked their website, then asserted 24 hours later the incident had been planned. Perhaps the whole incident was an artistic happening. Seefranz declined further explanation.
On the streets of Kassel, a city north of Frankfurt that expects up to 700,000 visitors for the show, some of the artworks are already under construction or visibly complete.
On the facade of the Friedericianum, the 18th-century museum that is one of the four main venues, a sculpture of stainless steel pipes by Iole de Freitas of Brazil is already wrapped around a corner like a huge vine.
Opposite the building a carousel is being built on the monument to Landgrave Friedrich II. The roundabout with the dead ruler's statue on top is an ironic comment on political power by Andreas Siekmann, a German artist.
Poppy-seed is germinating in fenced-off soil spread across the nearby square.
City officials confirm this is an artwork by Sanja Ivekovic of Croatia. Her idea was apparently to grow a scarlet "field of blood" as comment on how Kassel's landgraves used to hire out mercenaries.
Documenta has also briefed the press on Terraced Rice Fields Art Project, a 7,000-square-metre installation by Sakarin Krue-On of Thailand on a hillside in the city.
He is directing two mini-excavators creating temporary rice paddies there.
Only three other exhibiting artists have been officially named by the Documenta management: Ferran Adria, Artur Zmijewski and Ricardo Basbaum.
Organizers Buergel and Noack say they will not make the full list of artists public till a media day on June 13.