At a documenta in Kassel, art should actually be discussed. Instead, the scandal is now arriving in the Berlin Bundestag.
The anti-Semitism scandal at the documenta in Kassel also occupies the Bundestag. At the most important exhibition for contemporary art after the Venice Biennale, a work with anti-Semitic imagery was discovered after the opening in mid-June.
The “People’s Justice” banner by Indonesian art collective Taring Padi was then taken down. Even before the opening, there had been largely unproven allegations of anti-Semitism against the curating collective Ruangrupa, which also comes from Indonesia.
This Wednesday, Minister of State for Culture Claudia Roth (Greens), Managing Director of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, Daniel Botmann, Hessian Minister of Art Angela Dorn (Greens) and documenta Director General Sabine Schormann will report on the events in the Parliament’s Culture Committee. Ruangrupa member Ade Darmawan is also expected. On Thursday, the Bundestag will debate the issue at the request of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group.
In its motion for a resolution, the Union urges “transparent and consistent answers” to the scandal. It is “completely incomprehensible that no personal consequences have been drawn so far,” said cultural policy spokeswoman Christiane Schenderlein about the application. “The intransigence of those responsible on site makes an honest and ruthless investigation difficult.”
According to the application, the Union wants an independent investigative commission to be set up “that will identify bad planning, bad processes and wrong decisions and name personal responsibilities”. The anti-Semitism commissioner should submit a report in which the scope and consequences of the scandal would be assessed. Planning for the next documenta in five years should be postponed until the scandal has been worked up and appropriate measures have been taken. The application also provides for “making personnel consequences at the documenta a condition for the continued funding of the documenta with federal funds”.
Roth has already called for changes in the structure of the documenta. Basically, Berlin wants more influence, otherwise there should be no more money. The withdrawal of the federal government from the supervisory board in 2018 while sticking to federal funding is now rated as a “serious mistake”.
The chairman of the documenta supervisory board, Kassel’s mayor Christian Geselle (SPD), rejects the federal government’s plans. Dorn, representing Hessen’s vice-president, supports Roth’s position to a large extent. (dpa)