Mission and Commission

Mission and Commission: documents and the Art Market 1955 -1968, documenta's independence from the art market is often taken as a given - at least on a formal level but this has not always been the case. There was a time when documenta was sustained by a web of vested interests as diverse as the need for funding, the desire to democratise art, and the profit-driven ambitions of an emerging art market. Miss/on and Commission: documenta and the Art Market 1955-1968 explores how these interests combined and conflicted with each other in the early documenta exhibitions, adopting a fresh angle which brings to light the tensions between artistic freedom and market pressure. Among the main characters of this lesser-known story are renowned figures such as Arnold Bode, the "founding father" of the project; but also others such as Hein Stunke, owner of the Galerie Der Spiegel; the gallerist Rudolf Zwirner; Philip Rosenthal, the porcelain manufacturer; Eugen Gomringer, the visual poet; and Knud Jensen, collector and founder of the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art in Humlebaek, Denmark.…