Documenta, an art world mega event held every five years in Kassel, Germany, is no stranger to controversy. Still, this year’s edition has overshadowed everything in the past.
Since the expanded show opened in June, a key artwork has been removed from the exhibit for containing anti-Semitic caricatures, and the event’s director general has resigned. Last week, some members of the country’s governing coalition called for Documenta to be shut down until it could be vetted for further anti-Semitic works after it was revealed the show also featured drawings of Israeli soldiers made in the 1980s, including one with a hooked nose.
The events of the past 50 days are perhaps unprecedented for an event like Documenta, matched in importance in the art world only by the Venice Biennale. The uproar over the images has dominated German newspapers for weeks — but that comes on top of months-long accusations that ruangrupa, a collective that organized this year’s event, and other artists, were supporters of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement against Israel, it is generally regarded as anti-Semitic in Germany. (The German parliament in 2019 declared the BDS movement anti-Semitic, saying it questioned Israel’s right to exist.)
All things considered, Documenta has become the latest cultural event to highlight the growing gap between the German establishment’s views on boycotting Israel and those of artists, musicians and other creatives, especially from outside the country. Some wonder if a solution can be found that will keep the turmoil from repeating itself.
The broader view in much of the art world is that supporting a boycott is not anti-Semitic and that Israel is acting as a colonial power, said Meron Mendel, the director of the Anne Frank Educational Center in Frankfurt. Those views are in stark contrast to those of German politicians. Both sides seem “stuck in their stances,” Mendel said, and seemingly unwilling to discuss each other’s concerns.
“The international cultural elite and the German state are in a very fundamental conflict,” he added.
Adam Szymczyk, a curator who was the artistic director of Documenta’s latest edition in 2017, said the discussion had become so polarized that it prevented the building of a climate of “trust, understanding and freedom of expression.”
This is not the first time that cultural figures visiting Germany have become embroiled in debates about anti-Semitism, particularly in connection with the support of the BDS movement, which asks companies and people not to do business with Israel in protest against the treatment of Palestinians. In 2018, the British band Young Fathers was removed from the bill at a German arts festival for its support for the boycott, which evokes memories in Germany of the Nazi boycott of Jewish businesses that began in 1933. (The band was later invited to the event again, but declined to appear.)
The German parliament had also called on regional authorities in 2019 to deny public funding to anyone who “actively supports” the movement. In response, the directors of 32 major art institutions issued an open letter warning that such movements were “dangerous” and threatened to curtail cultural exchange.
The fury surrounding Documenta started six months before the show even started, when a protest group, Alliance Against Antisemitism Kassel, made accusations about artists supporting the BDS movement. The allegations were made on an anonymous blog, but were picked up by German newspapers and echoed by politicians. Later, a space housing the Palestinian collective The Question of Funding was vandalized.
In June there was a major scandal when the Indonesian art collective Taring Padi installed a 2002 artwork called ‘People’s Justice’ on one of the main squares of Kassel.
It is about 20 meters long and is a political banner with cartoonish depictions of activists struggling under Indonesian military rule. Among hundreds of figures is a caricature of a Jew with side locks and fangs, wearing a hat with the emblem of the Nazi SS. The banner also features a pig-headed military figure wearing a Star of David tie cloth, which is intended to represent a member of Mossad, Israel’s security agency.
Shortly after the work was installed, German politicians and Jewish groups condemned it as anti-Semitic. Taring Padi and ruangrupa apologized and the work was cut short.
Alexander Supartono, a member of Taring Padi and an art historian at Edinburgh Napier University in Scotland, said in a video interview that members of the group were not anti-Semitic, as one of their principles was to respect people of all religions and races. When they heard of the caricature, the group responded by asking, “How did this happen? How did we not see this?” he added. The group had tried to represent Israeli officials who supported Indonesia’s former dictator Suharto, he said, but “consciously or unconsciously” they drew on stereotypes that he said were probably first introduced to his country by Dutch settlers. .
Supartono said that many artists felt that the German media labeled Documenta as anti-Semitic without discussion. The mood was so tense that when it was first announced that “People’s Justice” would be covered up (this was before it was removed), about 70 artists representing many of the collectives in the exhibit gathered to debate what to do next. . Some called for all artworks in the exhibition to be treated in protest at what they believed to be censorship without any debate or dialogue, meaning the exhibition itself would be closed.
With so little trust between the artists and the German media and authorities, even attempts to address the flashpoints at Documenta face challenges. On Monday, an academic panel appointed by regional authorities began to examine what had happened at Documenta. Her assignment includes providing advice if more problematic images come to light.
But many artists at Documenta have opposed the panel. Farid Rakun, a member of ruangrupa, said in a video interview that it “forced only one reading of the exhibition, as anti-Semitic; could lead to censorship; and also set a worrying precedent. “It’s a political move,” Rakun said. and added: “We cannot accept it.”
The academics have said their work would not lead to censorship committees.
In interviews with 10 artists who participated in Documenta, they all expressed concern about the possible implications of the feud. Vidisha-Fadescha, an artist and the founder of the India-based art and social space party agency, which uses s/he pronouns, said they would not even answer if they supported the BDS movement because it would threaten their safety in could endanger. Artists in Germany could limit their ability to find work by speaking up, Vidisha-Fadescha added.
Some performers said they believed the feud had already taken effect. Eyal Weizman, the director of Forensic Architecture, a group whose research into political violence is displayed in museums worldwide, said in a telephone interview that earlier this year the director of a German museum had postponed one of its exhibitions, citing Weizman’s work. support the BDS movement. When the turmoil over Documenta exploded in June, the director canceled Weizman’s show entirely.
But Josef Schuster, chairman of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, wrote in an email that artists don’t have to worry about censorship. “The times when Germany dictated from above what was good art and what was bad art are thankfully over,” he said, adding: “But it is also a lesson from history that not everything should be said.”
Anti-Semitism is rife in Germany, he added, and some artwork on Documenta could fuel it. “One should not worry about Germany’s attractiveness as a cultural venue,” Schuster also said, adding that “there are plenty of artists” who have a clear stance against boycotting Israel.
There is one place where the debate seems less pronounced: in the exhibition itself. Daniella Praptono and Mirwan Andan, members of ruangrupa, said in a video interview that visitors, including German schoolchildren, looked every day at the many works of art now scattered throughout Kassel, meeting artists, taking classes and attending events. When asked if any of the visiting children had mentioned anti-Semitism, Praptono replied, “Of course not.”
“They learn, share, make friends,” she added.
Michael Lazar, a board member of the Jewish community in Kassel, said in a telephone interview that he found a handful of works “an agitprop of the worst kind” or anti-Semitic, but that more than 1,500 artists were involved. edition of Documenta and that he had good relations with many of them, including the organizers, ruangrupa.
“Every Documenta is always said to be the last, and then it continues,” he said. “I hope the next 50 days will be full of excitement.”