Arnold Bode thought through the first ideas and concepts for documenta 1955 with a circle of art experts and enthusiasts, colleagues from the Werkakademie Kassel, and representatives of the urban community. A large part of this group of supporters was involved in the Gesellschaft für Abendländische Kunst des 20. Jahrhunderts e.V. (Society for Western Art of the 20th Century), founded in 1955, which in the end was primarily responsible for the organization and realization of the exhibition.
While in 1954—55 there was still a lot of improvisation and decisions were made and organization carried out at short notice, the planning for the second documenta began during the first. The clearest sign of the structural professionalization was the founding of documenta GmbH during documenta 2 in the summer of 1959.