With the Hofbuchhandlung Vietor, documenta fifteen gains Kassel’s most traditional and oldest bookstore. It is also one of the few remaining owner-operated bookstores in the city to have won several bookstore awards and was already a partner of documenta 1 in 1955. That year, it took over catalog and book sales for the first time. Today, a wide selection of books can be found at Vietor—without a shelf presenting bestsellers. In recent years, the bookstore has developed into a cultural meeting place and has become an integral part of Kassel’s literature and cultural scene. Books, globes, maps, posters, and statements on contemporary topics can be discovered there.
At documenta fifteen, the Hofbuchhandlung Vietor will present a selection from its classic range of publications, including books from the Kassel region and those dedicated to local cuisine and products, alongside titles on contemporary issues linked to questions and issues raised at documenta fifteen. During documenta, this selection of books will change on a regular basis.
Buchhandlung Walther König is a publisher’s bookshop based in Cologne specializing in publications on art and art history, architecture, the decorative arts, design, fashion, photography, film, and art theory, as well as exhibition catalogues. 2022 will mark its tenth engagement with documenta. In the fifty-four years since it was established, additional bookstores have sprung up beyond its flagship store in Cologne. The approach of the Walther & Franz König publishing house and its bookstores is characterized by its involvement with many young and often later renowned artists, providing a forum for them to explore the book as a work of art and promoting their development. They have published more than four thousand titles, including numerous artists’ books.
At documenta fifteen, the Walther König bookstore will present a wide selection of exhibition catalogues, artists’ monographs, and books on photography, art history, the decorative arts, typography, fashion, and design. Critical and aesthetic theory titles that relate to the themes of documenta fifteen will be a particular focus.
At documenta fifteen, the Hofbuchhandlung Vietor and Buchhandlung Walther König are located in the Books & Goods section of the Welcome Center at ruruHaus. Both offer documenta fifteen publications alongside a curated selection from their range of books. This selection of books is complemented by merchandise, art postcards, and objects by lumbung members and lumbung artists at the lumbung Kios, as well as by the presentation of lumbung Gallery, a collectively governed, non-speculative and regenerative gallery model.
A wall-mounted shelving system initially developed for a Düsseldorf bookstore and kept in storage after it closed has been installed in the Books & Goods area by the architect of the documenta Halle, Jochem Jourdan. Its reuse reflects documenta fifteen’s emphasis on a circular economy and the recycling of materials in exhibition production.
The Welcome Center is located in the ruruHaus at Obere Königsstraße 43, 34117 Kassel, and is open daily from 10 am to 8 pm. Here, visitors can obtain comprehensive information about their visit (Info & Services), daily insights into the work of documenta fifteen (Welcome Area), and purchase tickets for the exhibition and guided walks (Tickets & Tours), coffee and refreshments (Café), and documenta fifteen publications, selected books, and merchandise (Books & Goods). Service partner of the Welcome Center is the Sparkassen-Finanzgruppe (Savings Banks Finance Group), whose trainees, along with documenta fifteen employees, will be on hand to provide visitors with information about visiting the exhibition.