At Documenta, the main draw is seeing art in unlikely local spaces, though.

WSJ: What's On at Documenta, From William Kentridge to Shinro Ohtake

An art teacher in Kassel created Documenta in 1955 with the aim of unearthing artworks deemed degenerate by the Nazis.

WSJ: What's On at Documenta, From William Kentridge to Shinro Ohtake

At the Documenta art fair in Kassel, Germany, likewise, two mid-career Indian artists, Atul Dodiya and Sheela Gowda were offered for sale.

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Documenta often plays up its cerebral side, and its latest crop of 180 participants includes philosophers and quantum physicists as well as artists.

WSJ: What's On at Documenta, From William Kentridge to Shinro Ohtake

Documenta typically gives its artists at least two years to conceive and produce their projects, so the works are often elaborate and intellectually complex.

WSJ: What's On at Documenta, From William Kentridge to Shinro Ohtake

He has exhibited at the Hayward Gallery in London, The Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris, Mori Art Museum in Tokyo and Documenta 12 in Kassel, Germany.

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That doesn't mean they're easy to spot, though: Chinese conceptualist Song Dong's contribution to Documenta is "The Doing Nothing Garden, " a 160-foot-long grassy knoll in Karlsaue Park whose innards are a mound of trash.

WSJ: What's On at Documenta, From William Kentridge to Shinro Ohtake