The discussion forum "100 days – 100 guests" at Documenta X (1997, curated by Catherine David), which hosted 100 talks during the exhibition, and to the four Documenta discussion platforms across the globe prior to the opening of Documenta XI (2002, curated by Okwui Enwezor et al.).

Press Information »100 Days - 100 Guests«
The documenta X is not merely an exhibition of contemporary art; it is a cultural event. One part of this event is the program 100 Days - 100 Guests.

For 100 days, a great diversity of statements are intended to create impressions and point to discoveries, not only supplementing the exhibition but leading beyond it, encircling it from a more objective distance, departing from its horizon, necessarily limited to three-dimensional space: This forum is entitled 100 Days - 100 Guests. From june 21 to September 18, 1997, the entire duration of the documenta X, the documenta Hall will be a place of encounter and exchange. Every evening at 7:00 Catherine David will welcome one or more guests. Following a presentation of ca. 40 minutes, the audience will have the opportunity of talking to the guests and the documenta team.

The state of culture has always been an indicator of the state of the world, art a unique language for talking about this state. How do others speak, and what about? Alongside »cultural participants«, i.e. artists of the exhibition, filmmakers, theatre people, architects and writers, innovative thinkers and intellectuals-philosophers, critics, sociologists, political scientists, economists, etc. - have been invited to introduce their views on issues of globalization.

The complex interconnections and multidimensionality determining the state of today's world are reflected in the spectrum of themes covered by these presentations. They range from thoughts on the development of modernism in non-Western cultures to the perspectives of cultural policy under the conditions of the global market, and further, to reflections on the phenomena of »universalism« and »identity«. Questions concerning the foundations of democracy and of a sense of responsible citizenship, the limits of neoliberalism and the consequences of new communication technologies will further en rich these open discussions.

Many of the guests are from non-Western cultures, special emphasis having been placed on countries whose cultural production has traditionally evolved primarily in areas outside the visual arts. These countries will nevertheless be represented at the documenta X by their best creative minds, be they the minds of people working with film, as writers or at universities.

All contributions made to the 100 Days - 100 Guests program will be recorded on video in their entirety by Bund Media (Berlin) and transmitted live onto the internet. The recordings will also be digitally archived so that interested dX visitors can recall them on computer terminals in the documenta-hall at their convenience.

Publications by the guests as well as books on the dX artists will be available for sale at the Walther König bookstore, and a cafe will provide an inviting opportunity to take a break from a tour of the exhibition or continue discussion after an evening presentation.

Presentations held in foreign languages will be simultaneously translated into German.
(© universes-in-universe.de)

Critical responses:
Sabine Vogel: The Torture of Enlightenment
About 100 Days - 100 Guests at documenta X
Special by Universes in Universe

Paul O'Neill: Curatorial Turn. From Practice to Discourse. esp. the section of Biennial Culture and the Culture of Curation