A work described as anti-Semitic exhibited at the 15th Documenta in Kassel, central Germany, will be covered up after requests for removal from the Israeli embassy and representatives of Jews in Germany, announced on Monday 21 June the organizers of the great contemporary art fair.
This is a new blow for this unmissable meeting of contemporary creation, which takes place every five years, and which has faced accusations of anti-Semitism in recent months.
In the edition which opened on Saturday June 18, a work by the Indonesian collective Taring Padi shows a soldier with a pig’s head, a Star of David and the inscription “Mossad” on his helmet. We also see a man with long teeth, curly hair, a hat with the inscription of the Nazi SS and a cigar at the corner of the mouth, reminiscent of the anti-Semitic caricatures of Orthodox Jews.
The work, created “in the context of political protests in Indonesia”, will now be hidden and a “explanation” will be installed nearby, according to a press release from Documenta organizers. Several voices had called on Monday for the removal of the painting which “clearly presents anti-Semitic motives”according to the director of the Anne Frank Center and professor at the University of Frankfurt, Meron Mendel, on Twitter.
“The elements… are reminiscent of Goebbels’ propaganda” broadcast “at the darkest time in German history” and “must be immediately removed from the exhibition”, asked in a statement the Israeli embassy in Berlin, saying “disgusted”.
“The freedom of art ends where misanthropy begins”for his part denounced Josef Schuster, president of the Council of Jews in Germany. “Documenta officials must draw the consequences.” The Federal Minister for Culture, Claudia Roth, also judged that the fight against anti-Semitism and racism “are also the limits of artistic freedom”.
“Our work does not contain anything that is intended to negatively represent any ethnic group”, defended Taring Padi. The “pigs, dogs or rats” are “references to a widespread symbolism in the Indonesian political context” used in this mural created in 2002 for “to criticize a capitalist, exploitative system and military violence”, depending on the group.
There is “no link with anti-Semitism”, support the artists, who say they are “sad that the details are interpreted differently from their original intention” and who apologize “for injuries caused”the statement added.
The debate comes as the art fair has already opened into controversy: the collective of Palestinian artists The Question of Funding, very critical of the Israeli occupation, has been accused of being linked to the Boycott movement, disinvestment , sanctions (BDS). He advocates a boycott of Israel because of its occupation of the Palestinian Territories.
BDS was labeled as “anti-Semitic” by the German parliament in 2019 and banned from receiving public money. However, about half of Documenta’s budget – 42 million euros – comes from the federal state. Last month, vandals broke into the space where works by Palestinian artists are displayed, covering the walls with threatening graffiti.
La Documenta is a major meeting place for contemporary art with the Venice Biennale. For 100 days, the works of more than 1,500 artists are expected to attract at least one million visitors.
The creation of Documenta in 1955 was intended to restore Germany’s place on the cultural scene after the Nazi persecutions of the artistic avant-garde. During World War II, the city of Kassel hosted a large forced labor camp, before being largely destroyed by Allied bombing.