For the first time, Ruangrupa, the Indonesian curating collective artist for Documenta 15 in Kassel, Germany, addressed allegations of anti-Semitism he faced this year across Germany.
In a strongly worded piece Posted on e-fluxRuangrupa denied that Documenta 15 had ever made anti-Semitic statements. Ruangrupa said the allegations were “badly intentioned attempts to delegitimize artists and impose preventive censorship on them based on their ethnic heritage and presumed political stances”.
The article, titled “Anti-Semitism Accusations Against Documentation: Scandal Over a Rumor,” was published on Monday, just days after Documenta 15 was scrapped. “We need to talk!” , an event that aims to bring together artists and intellectuals in an open debate on anti-anti-Semitism, Islamophobia and forms of racism. The event was the subject of so widely debated that Germany’s Minister of Culture, Claudia Roth, responded to it, defending Documenta after a prominent Jewish group spoke out.
Related Articles
Previously, Documenta had Climb to the defense of the artists included in this edition, although Ruangrupa herself has not previously responded publicly and at length.
The group said in its letter that the discussion prompted some of the participants to withdraw from the event, although it did not detail which of them did so.
The allegations against Documenta 15 first surfaced earlier this year, when the Coalition Against Anti-Semitism accused Kassel of members of its Artists Selection Committee and some of the participating artists of “promoting hate of Israel”. Despite the allegations containing factual errors, they were picked up by die zeita standard paper in Germany, and sparked heated debate in the country.
The original blog of the Coalition Against Anti-Semitism, published by Castle, also included a sentence in which the name Documenta 15, “Lumbong”, was ridiculed as similar to a cocktail known as Lumumba. This exposes “the dangerous convergence of German historical ignorance and racial slander,” Ruangrupa said.
Some of those allegations made by the Alliance against Anti-Semitism in Kassel center around the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement, which seeks action against Israel as part of a campaign to give Palestinians equal rights and property. Known as BDS for short, it has been controversial within Germany.
In her letter, Ruangrupa threw out the phrase “We need to talk!” It is the result of a culture in which boycott and anti-Semitism are unfairly equated, making it difficult to obtain proper discourse. She also said that this culture “mainly affects people from the Global South and especially from the Middle East and has led to censorship”.
“Those who reject this political debate in advance leave the conversation before it begins,” the group wrote, referring to the differences between “anti-Semitism” and what it called “Israel-related anti-Semitism,” adding, “But those who do not want to allow this conversation to take place.” Not at all, but instead, wishing to define who and what is debatable and to silence those who deem unacceptable voices, should make this clear, rather than hide behind criticism of the regulatory and organizational details of the planned panels.”
The team continued, “Scientific practice cannot exist without open debate. An effective fight against anti-Semitism needs this practice as a basis. If such debate becomes impossible, it will be very difficult to combat the real anti-Semitic threats of terrorism and violence.”
Despite canceling “We need to talk!” Last week, the Documenta 15 program was expected to continue unchanged. The show is expected to begin on June 18 in Kassel, and will run for 100 days until September 25.
[ad_2]
