Edígio Álvaro, “Letter from Kassel: Hyperrealism at Documenta 5,” ­translated from Portuguese by Ruth Rosengarten, originally published as “Carta de ­Kassel 2: O Hiper-Realismo na Documenta 5” and “Carta de Kassel. Quinta Documenta (III): O Desmoronar das Fronteiras,” in Diário de Notícias (January 4 and February 1, 1973)

doi:10.4324/9781003009979-87

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Edígio Álvaro, “Letter from Kassel: Hyperrealism at Documenta 5,” translated from Portuguese by Ruth Rosengarten, originally published as “Carta de Kassel 2: O Hiper-Realismo na Documenta 5” and “Carta de Kassel. Quinta Documenta (III): O Desmoronar das Fronteiras,” in Diário de Notícias (January 4 and February 1, 1973)

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ABSTRACT

Edigio Alvaro, an art critic associated with the neo-vanguard movements and in particular with Performance art, visited the celebrated Documenta in Kassel in its fifth incarnation, writing a long review that was published in four parts in the Diário de Notícias, one of the principal Portuguese dailies, between November 1972 and February 1973. In a desperate bid to escape the aggressions of the art world through a mechanism of avoidance and projection, the American art consumer first accepted Gestural art as a symbol of the freedom and violence that were denied by an antiseptic, ordered and bureaucratized world. Hyperrealism might well be the perfect shield against all those unsettling concerns that currently present themselves to solitary man; issues concerning solitude—both within and outside of the group—and questions around the importance of action and the danger it poses.