PRESS RELEASE ADMITTING THE FABRICATION OF A LETTER FROM HARALD SZEEMANN. 1972.

NYC: s.p. (Hendrics/Toche), 1972

30 x 21cm, b/w offset. A press release in which Hendricks and Toche announce publicly that a supposed letter to them from Harald Szeeman in which he hints at a sexist policy for Documenta 5 (which he was curating) was a forgery made by the Guerrilla Art Action Group. They ascribed views to Szeemann that he had not actually made (but they inferred) and mixed in English translations of short passages by Adolf Hitler including ““The whores were at it again. […] I give the orders. Women should make soup, that’s all.”.

The letter by admitting this (actually illegal) act opens an interesting debate as to whether such tactics are reasonable or not. The forged letter was believed by some at first and while it did open a debate about the inclusion of women in Documanta 5 it also maligned Szeemann by exaggerating his real position.

This has some edge damage and browning on the right and small tears where the leaflet was folded but a scarce document indeed.