In a tense session this evening in Germany, experts gathered to discuss the implications of removing a work in Documenta 15 containing anti-Semitic images.
The explicit aim of the symposium was to discuss the topic of anti-Semitism and art – not only in relation to questions about censorship and artistic freedom, but also ‘regarding the State of Israel’ as the event described. But it was clear early on that the event had paid off due to the controversial banner by Indonesian artist Tring Padi, which was removed last week.
The Taring Padi banner was in response to the fall of the Suharto regime in Indonesia and featured, among many other images, a caricature of a Jew and an image of a Mossad agent with a pig’s head on his face. Many, including a number of German politicians, decried the work. Tring Buddy and the Ruangrupa group, which organized Documenta 15, initially said that there were no anti-Semitic intentions in the creation and exhibition of the work, but that the two groups later I apologize for that.
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Once it was first announced last Friday, the talk organized by Documenta was seen as embarrassing. Neither Taring Padi nor Ruangrupa were mentioned among the participants. In fact, there weren’t any Documenta 15 artists willing to speak at all. Instead, the commission’s members included a political theorist, a former curator of Documenta, and a member of the organization that oversees German state funding for various initiatives.
But to a surprise, members of Ruangrupa were among the audience. “We are here to learn and listen,” said Ruangrupa member Adi Darmawan at the end of a short, informal introduction to the talk. This was followed by a round of applause. Then Ruangrupa did not speak again.
Adding to the unease was the fact that this was the Documenta’s second attempt to host a talk of anti-Semitism this year after some Jewish groups in Germany said the Documenta was anti-Semitic.
The first event was scheduled to take place before the opening of Documenta 15. The show has already faced controversy over the inclusion of the issue of Palestinian crowdfunding, whose members have said some Jewish groups in Germany support the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement. Another charge against the gallery was the unwillingness of any Israeli artists to participate. (It turns out there was one, although this artist didn’t appear on the initial rolls.)
After a severe pushback, Documenta canceled the event, which was titled “We need to talk!” , which was also touching on Islamophobia and racism against Palestinians and other related issues.
No one discussed canceling “We Need to Talk!” At Tuesday’s event, however. No one mentioned Taring Buddy by name, and questions on the question of financing were only hinted at in a few disparate moments. (No one mentioned anyone else on the artist list, either, for that matter, or any work on the show itself.) The Boycott and Palestine movement has appeared several times, but no one has commented extensively on it. All participants were upfront about anti-Semitism being a real and urgent problem in Germany, but when it came to Documenta specifically, it seemed more ambiguous – no one seemed to want to talk directly about controversies related to Taring Padi or the question of funding.
By the end of the commission, it was clear that there were still many conversations to take place – but what exactly we need to talk about is still somewhat unclear.
Doron Kessel, a member of the educational department of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, spoke directly about the issue of funding when he said: “We saw that there was no invitation to Israeli Jewish artists. It showed us that something was getting out of hand.”
This sentiment was echoed by Myron Mendel, director of Bildungsstätte Anne Frank when he spoke of Israeli-Jewish artists who support what he referred to only as the “peace movement” and questioned why they were not in Documenta 15. “We are talking about art made by artists who make up, given their political status Private, a minority in Israel, and they are not in a dominant position in Israel,” he said.
Is this anti-Semitism? Is it an anti-Israel position? “These are open questions,” asked the Israeli-born Mendel.
Adam Simsek, Technical Director of Documenta 14, in 2017, seemed to respond indirectly to this when he spoke about Documenta’s history as an institution. He noted that unlike the Venice Biennale, there are no national pavilions, which means that there is no guarantee that any artists from any particular country will be included.
“I can only hope that there will be a Documenta in the future where there will be a show of Palestinian artists from Ramallah and Israeli artists from Tel Aviv or elsewhere, for example, and that these artists can appear together in one exhibition,” he said. .
Simsek continued to mourn the fact that such an exhibition “does not happen” in the current environment in Germany.
All five seminar participants mentioned the looming specter of Nazism and the Holocaust, as if to suggest that Germany still had a special duty to reflect on anti-Semitism. But some have said that it is not enough to consider only the local context in this regard, especially since Documenta, for the first time ever, is made up mostly, though not exclusively, of artists from the Global South.
Drawing on the writings of Frantz Fanon, Edward Said, and others, political theorist Nikita Dhawan has made an appeal to the public to consider anti-Semitism and racism closely intertwined. “What I saw here is this cross of hate,” she said. “There is a very deep connection between racism and anti-Semitism, and there is a whole history of addressing this question in postcolonial studies.”
She also addressed the question of whether postcolonial studies were the problem in themselves, as some have suggested: “We have to think what kind of Germany we want to live in. Who benefits from this demonization and this stereotype? Who pays the price for this?”
She later reiterated her point of view in a more strident form. “Rejecting and demonizing all postcolonial studies as anti-Semitic is a kind of lazy politics. It is also an ideological maneuver. I am not making a general comment about everyone in Germany, but certain factions use this ideological maneuver to not address the legacies of European colonialism, and legacies of crimes against colonized peoples, not only in the German colonies but outside Europe in the colonies.”
The Documenta itself is the subject of ideological maneuvering at the moment, with several politicians, including German Culture Minister Claudia Roth, claiming that the German government could withhold some funding from Documenta unless changes are made behind the scenes.
Hortensia Volkers, artistic director of the German Federal Cultural Foundation, which helps oversee state funding for events like Documenta, explained that the government had no immediate plans to defund Documenta in any way. “We will sign the next Documenta contract next summer,” she said. “That’s not a problem.” She called for moving “from the accusation process to the healing process.”
The Documenta 15 opened to the public less than two weeks ago, however, the event participants painted a bleak picture of the show so far.
Simsek concluded: “Documenta proves once again its importance as a site or place where this discussion can begin.” “I can’t help but feel sorry that it is happening under such violent conditions.”
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