Treball col·lectiu els artistes participants a Documenta 4 (1968) i Documenta 5 (1972) a Kassel (Collective Work About the Artists Participating in Documenta 4 [1968] and Documenta 5 [1972] in Kassel)

Although 1973 is considered the year in which the Grup de Treball collective was formed, the truth is that many of its members had already been collaborating on different artistic initiatives for many years previously. The need to create a single common name to encompass the long list of artists who made up this collaborative network emerged as a logical consequence of the move to clearly formulate the programmatic qualities and lines of work that had been pursued. These were founded upon a shared political commitment rooted in the opposition to the Franco regime, which became a reality in the form of dematerialized artistic practices – actions or interventions, photocopies, signs, publications, etc. – as a model of resistance to the commercialisation of the established system of art. The first piece by the collective and signed with its name was titled Treball col·lectiu els artistes participants a Documenta 4 (1968) i Documenta 5 (1972) a Kassel (Collective Work About the Artists Participating in Documenta 4 (1968) and Documenta 5 (1972) in Kassel, (1973) and was exhibited as part of a catalogue presented within the Secció d’Art of the Cinquena Universitat Catalana d’Estiu in Prada, held in July of that year. This work lists the money earned by the artists participating in Documenta 4 and Documenta 5 in Kassel, using as a reference the prices at which their works were sold over the course of 1972. These lists of artists were meant to denounce the way in which large events and international exhibitions such as Documenta influenced the creative process, as well as how a few artists were promoted and publicised while others were overlooked, to the point that aesthetic discourses were established which then became dominant.

Lola Hinojosa