DOCUMENTA MAGAZINE N°1-3, 2007 READER

The documenta 12 magazines are a collective worldwide editorial projectlinking over eighty print and on-line periodicals, as well as other media.In advance of the exhibition in Kassel, documenta 12 magazines have openedup a central site for reflection and visual contemplation. Since early2006, influential journals in the realm of art, as well as specialistpublications operating in discursive fields beyond the major art centres,have been publishing and discussing contributions - essays, interviews,photo reportages, features, interventions from artists and articles offiction - in relation to documenta 12's three main themes: Is modernityour antiquity? What is bare life? What is to be done? The documenta 12magazine will subsequently assemble and summarize these debates andprovide a selection of core texts and images. The first issue of this"journal of journals" will be published in January 2007; issues 2 and 3will follow in February and April 2007. Good texts help us to understandmore about what we see: in this sense, "The Documenta 12 Magazine" aims toprovide background knowledge prior to the exhibition, without restrictingin any way the individual experience of viewing the artworks themselves.The broadly conceived themes of Modernity? Life! and Education: are infact intended to increase our appetite for images, because thesignificance of art lies within art itself - in its ambiguity,contrariness and stubborn independence. This Sampler comprises all threeissues of the printed magazine in book form.