Five and a half weeks before the end of the Documenta Fifteen, the disputes in Kassel came to a head again. The reason for this is, on the one hand, statements by the artist Hamja Ahsan on Facebook. There the artist sympathized with anti-Israel groups, polemicized against politicians and described, among other things, Chancellor Olaf Scholz as a “fascist pig”, like the first picturenewspaper reported.
There is also a dispute over another motif by the Taring Padi collective, whose banner “People’s Justice” was first covered and then removed shortly after the opening of the world art show because it showed anti-Semitic caricatures. Visitors now claim to have discovered another anti-Semitic depiction (a figure with a kippa and a long nose) in the picture “All Mining is Dangerous”, which was partially pasted over. The organizers pointed out that the depiction was a traditional figure from the Indonesian shadow play. Regarding the Hamja Ahsan case, the press office said it was “not the job of the Documenta to comment on statements by those involved outside of the exhibition.”
Politicians are calling for federal funds to be cut for the art show
The two incidents come at a time when the results of the “expert commission” are expected, which were set up by the Documenta shareholders, the state of Hesse and the city of Kassel, as a “measure for processing” and with the aim of “the secure the future of the documenta and its globally unique “rank”. The scientists and art historians should view the exhibition and make recommendations. However, even after the appeal, the curators and artists of the Documenta Fifteen had resisted outside interference and warned against “censorship”.
So a lot will depend on the extent to which everyone involved succeeds in creating a consensus: Not only because politicians like the FDP member of the Bundestag Frank Müller-Rosentritt are demanding that the Documenta “no longer be funded from federal funds”. But because in this case sponsors would obviously also see the Documenta as an institution damaged, as the Hessian Prime Minister Boris Rhein recently said in an interview with the HNA. Although he himself pointed out that “approximately 99.9 percent” of the invited artists “are not anti-Semites and also do not show any anti-Semitic imagery”, the shock is so great that discussions are being held about canceling the art show. “And if the Documenta were canceled today, it would be the end of the Documenta.”