Festival. No one imagined back then that the exhibition would develop into one of the most significant regularly recurring global art exhibitions. Although the name  Documenta stands for an all-encompassing vision, each of the eleven exhibitions to date has been unique, with its own aims and atmosphere. The history of Documenta reflects the last half century s diverse artistic and curatorial approaches, philosophies and forms of presentation, as well as a broad array of political and social currents. This publication looks into that history and the phenomenon of Documenta and contains a richly illustrated review of 50 years of art in Kassel and the artworks that made history. In addition to essays on different aspects of Documenta and all previous exhibitions, young artists respond to the abundance of material from the Documenta archives.