The debate about anti-Semitic imagery at this year’s art show never stops. The mayor of the host city of Kassel has also received criticism.
The chairman of the supervisory board of the documenta, Kassel’s mayor Christian Geselle (SPD), has denied having ignored allegations of anti-Semitism against the world art exhibition.
“They always stood in front of Director General Sabine Schormann and didn’t want to hear it,” FDP faction leader Matthias Nölke had previously accused him of at the city council meeting in Kassel. Geselle therefore shares responsibility for the scandal that shook the documenta.
Geselle replied that since the allegations began, resolutions in all Supervisory Board meetings had always been passed unanimously and jointly. However, he again admitted that a serious mistake had happened that had to be worked up. This mistake obliges the documenta shareholders, the city of Kassel and the state of Hesse, to hold a debate that also has to be held throughout the state: “How does anti-Semitism, racism, postcolonialism relate to art?” The documenta is a vehicle on which this debate is currently taking place.
Even before the start of this year’s documenta, allegations of anti-Semitism against the Indonesian curator collective Ruangrupa had been raised. Shortly after the opening in mid-June, a work with anti-Semitic imagery was discovered. The work was initially imposed and later dismantled. In the course of the scandal and the sluggish processing, Schormann had resigned from her position. Alexander Farenholtz will follow her as interim managing director, as announced on Monday. (dpa)