Alice Yard at documenta fifteen

 

From 18 June to 25 September, 2022, Alice Yard will participate in documenta fifteen, curated by the Indonesian collective ruangrupa.
 
Taking the lumbung — a communal rice barn typical in rural Indonesia — as a conceptual model, documenta fifteen is built around “principles of collectivity, resource building, and equitable distribution.”

When Alice Yard was invited to join the documenta fifteen lumbung and work alongside dozens of other collectives from around the world, the curators asked how we might “translate” what we do to a new physical location — the German city of Kassel — and a broader context.

What does Alice Yard do? For fourteen and a half years, from our founding in 2006, we were often described as an art space, based at Roberts Street in Woodbrook, Port of Spain. In February 2020, when we permanently relocated to Granderson Lab in Belmont, it was clear to us that Alice Yard is not merely a physical location, but a series of relationships and ideas, ways of thinking and working — not a project but a practice, not a programme but a process.

How do we translate this to documenta fifteen? Rather than inventing some unprecedented new spectacle, we have opted to do what we’ve always done: create a space, both physical and conceptual, to bring artists and others together to talk, experiment, exchange, and play, with an ethos of self-determination, generosity, spontaneity, and friendship.

During the 100 days of documenta fifteen, Alice Yard will host nine artists in residence at the WH22 venue, who will create and present site- and time-specific works and actions in diverse media at locations around Kassel. Building on relationships that, in some cases, stretch back to the earliest days of Alice Yard, these artists are:

18 June–2 July: Blue Curry
3–17 July: Luis Vasquez La Roche
5–19 July: Nicole Cecilia Delgado and Amanda Hernández
18–30 July: Shannon Alonzo
31 July–13 August: Versia Harris
14–28 August: Michelle Eistrup
29 August–10 September: Bruce Cayonne
11–25 September: Ada M. Patterson

We also look forward to welcoming other friends and collaborators to our space in Kassel for informal visits, interactions, and activations, some planned and some improvised.

Simultaneously, Alice Yard will present a series of works and actions in Port of Spain to extend the documenta fifteen conversation beyond Kassel.

During our time in Kassel, instead of concerning ourselves with whether or how an international audience may or may not understand our process, we prefer to ask ourselves: What do we make or do when no one is watching us? What do we talk about when no one else is listening?

The exact scope and content of our documenta fifteen participation are unknown to us now — these will take shape over the 100 days. To use one of our favourite phrases, there is no end in sight.

Follow us here and on social media, visit us in Kassel or Port of Spain, and join our conversation.

#AliceYardD15  #ayardexchange #documentafifteen