The Goethe-​Institut and the documenta archiv in Kassel have launched a new fellowship program for international curators and researchers. During six month-​long research stays in Kassel, starting in the spring of 2020 six fellows will be given the opportunity to explore their locally based research interests in conjunction with individual aspects of documenta’s history. Their results will then be presented in Germany and in their countries of origin.

In many international art contexts there is a desire to work up the local art history or histories and to explore their relationship to the global art scene. In Germany, by contrast, efforts are being made to revise the conventional art and culture canon of Western European provenance and open it to other perspectives.

In order to support these research efforts, the Goethe-​Institut, in cooperation with the documenta archiv in Kassel, will offer a new fellowship program for international curators and researchers with experience and interest in archival work from spring 2020. In total, six fellowships will be awarded with six-​month research stays in Kassel.

The aim of the Goethe-​Institut Fellowship at the documenta archiv in Kassel is to investigate diverse international references to the documenta and to gain new insights into arising networks and interconnections in artistic production and curatorial practice. During their research, the fellows will be given extensive access to the documenta archiv in Kassel and will be looked after by experienced archivists. Cooperation with the documenta professorship (Prof. Dr. Nora Sternfeld) at the University of Kassel also makes it possible to connect the fellows to academic practice in Germany.

Goethe-​Institut’s Secretary General Johannes Ebert stated, “The documenta receives enormous worldwide interest. With the fellowship programme, documenta archiv and Goethe-​Institut are making the history of the world’s most important art exhibition more accessible to international curators and researchers. They will have the opportunity to explore the manifold interactions of local and global art history using original sources and to thus open up new perspectives on them.”

Birgit Jooss, Director of the documenta archiv explained, “The financing of fellowships for international researchers working on the history of documenta is an important building block on the way to the documenta Institute, the core of which will be the documenta archiv. We are already looking forward to the cooperation with the Goethe-​Institut and a stimulating exchange with the next generation of researchers.”

The research results will be presented until the beginning of documenta 2022 in Germany and via the network of the Goethe-​Institut in the countries of origin of the fellows. This may take the form of a publication, a series of academic or public events or an exhibition.