Once a distinctly anti-Semitic image with added Holocaust connotations — a figure with a large nose, pointed teeth and side locks, adorned with an “SS” cap — was spotted in a huge agitprop tableau erected in a central Kassel square, The integrity of Documenta itself, which runs on public funds, was at stake.
The incident was agonizingly avoidable. The mural-like banner by the Indonesian collective Taring Padi dates from 2002; it portrays Indonesian political life as a great struggle of oppressors, capitalists and polluters against the people, with ancestors watching. It didn’t make it to Friedrichsplatz, the centerpiece of the show, until the end of the preview, in which Taring Padi had charmed visitors with hundreds of cardboard dolls in the same square and town.
Months before Documenta, critics had leveled up accusations, most notably that participants supported the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement, which the German parliament has declared anti-Semitic. Before the show was installed, the Question of Funding, a Palestinian artist group, was targeted by vandals who broke into the exhibition space and graffitied it.
In this flammable climate some vigilance was to be expected. But from whom? The banner, which apparently went up late as it was being restored, eluded the attention of Ruangrupa, whose members apologetically said they hadn’t noticed the offending elements. Sabine Schormann, director-general of Documenta, told the newspaper Der Spiegel that administrators had not screened art in advance out of respect for artistic freedom.
The work has been deleted. But for the German branch, this Documenta is clearly over. A barrage of criticism from politicians and the media has declared the entire exhibition a national disgrace, called for greater state control over future editions and demanded Schormann’s resignation. Management has now announced that, despite artistic freedom, Ruangrupa must judge the entire show for objectionable content with the support of the Anne Frank Center in Frankfurt – competing with artists.
