After the anti-Semitism scandal at the documenta, Hesse’s Minister of Art Angela Dorn emphasized at a panel discussion that the discourse on coming to terms with the situation that has now begun can only be the first step.
Since the beginning of documenta fifteen in mid-June, little has revolved around the art on display. Rather, the focus is on the anti-Semitism scandal that broke out shortly after the opening of the show, but had been brewing for months.
How it was possible that a work with anti-Semitic imagery was exhibited was the subject of a panel discussion on Wednesday evening in Kassel on the subject of “Anti-Semitism in Art”. At the event, the Ruangrupa curatorial collective once again emphasized its willingness to engage in dialogue.
learning and listening
“We are here to learn and to listen,” said Indonesian collective spokesman Ade Darmawan, speaking at the start of the debate. He hopes the event will be a starting point for discussions. “We are here,” stressed Darmawan, who was listening to the debate.
The Anne Frank educational institution and the documenta gGmbH sponsoring association had jointly invited to the podium after an artwork by the Indonesian collective Taring Padi, classified as anti-Semitic, was dismantled just a few days after the start of the show. Anti-Semitism allegations against Ruangrupa had been raised since January.
The event was attended by, among others, the director of the Anne Frank educational institution, Meron Mendel, and Hortensia Völckers, artistic director and board member of the German Federal Cultural Foundation, and the scientific director of the educational department of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, Doron Kiesel.
Hesse’s Minister of Art, Angela Dorn, also came. In her greeting she emphasized that the podium could only be the first step in dealing with the scandal. The Greens politician reaffirmed the need for a structural reform of the documenta, as requested by Minister of State for Culture Claudia Roth (Greens).
The sponsor of the exhibition is a non-profit company, with representatives from the state and city on the supervisory board. The supervisory board is chaired by Kassel’s Lord Mayor Christian Geselle (SPD), his deputy is Angela Dorn. Underneath are the management with general director Sabine Schormann and artistic direction.
Roth threatens with less money
As a consequence of the events, Roth wants more influence from the federal government. She threatens to turn off the money supply otherwise. The Federal Cultural Foundation withdrew from the documenta supervisory board in 2018, but continues to support the show with 3.5 million euros.
The chairman of the supervisory board of the documenta, Kassel’s mayor Christian Geselle (SPD), vehemently rejects Roth’s demands. He threatened the city of Kassel to go it alone as a shareholder. The city is financially and also ideally possible to bear responsibility for the documenta without the participation of Berlin, it said in a letter to Roth, which is available to the dpa.
Hortensia Völckers, board member of the Federal Cultural Foundation, criticized the fact that the supervisory board had not been reformed earlier than announced. The foundation left in 2018 after the documenta 14 crisis. The show in 2017 ended with a deficit of 7.6 million euros, mainly due to the two locations in Athens and Kassel. The city of Kassel and the state of Hesse as shareholders paid for the additional costs.
“We were told at the time that the supervisory board would be reformed,” said Völckers. “That hasn’t happened to this day.” However, this debate is a sham fight. “It’s always easy to say that if we had been on the board, that wouldn’t have happened. I wouldn’t have noticed either. I wouldn’t have been hanging around here every day,” she admitted.
Shattered Confidence
Meron Mendel identified communication problems, organizational problems and a lack of debate beforehand as the cause of the scandal. “We haven’t been able to have a dialogue with each other since January,” he said. He also sees his failure there.
Doron Kiesel spoke of a shake in confidence in the ability of society and “certain circles of those responsible” to deal with their own history. Everyone who lives or performs in Germany has to deal with it. (dpa)