Every few years since 1955, the creators of documenta set themselves the task of providing an insight into current trends in art and of capturing the zeitgeist of recent art production. Despite its name, documentas primary concerns are neither with the simple documentation of individual artists and their work nor with developments in art history, but instead with providing a historical space where art reflects and comments on social constellations and political or social change, or demands it through art interventions. documenta is not only a historical testimony and event, but also a show at whichthrough the medium of artself-interpretation becomes the catalyst for debate and historical change. For the first time, this book places the history of documenta in the context of the political, cultural and societal development of Germany during the second half of the twentieth century, illustrating how art and history can be explored in terms of a mutually dependent relationship.

RAPHAEL GROSS ist Historiker und Direktor des Simon-Dubnow-Instituts für jüdische Geschichte und Kultur.