A document without criticism of it is not a document. When the big exhibition was held five years ago, under the direction of Polish curator Adam Szymczyk, there was a big exhibition. Not just because Athens was heavily indebted as a second venue after Kassel – also in terms of content, barely a hair was left in the 14th edition of this contemporary art festival: the curators were arrogant and condescending, the art was banal, the presentation was chaotic, they said. To make matters worse, the criticisms that Szymczyk and his team wanted to make of neoliberalism and neocolonialism turned out to be self-defeating: the Athenian art scene in particular felt used and displayed – but not in a good way.
