in 1907 by Belgium in the Giardini, the Biennale became a battleground between countries, their artists and their pavilions: an Olympics of art. By contrast, documenta's internationalism remains rooted in the failures of nationalism: the defeat and material hardship wrought by National Socialism and the repressed shame surrounding the Holocaust.'

Bode organized three more documenta exhibitions, finishing with documenta 4. Others have since continued to produce regular documenta exhibitions in Kassel. Bode received the German Federal Cross of Merit