It is more than questionable whether with the Suspension of the large screen “People’s Justice” calm is now returning to the Documenta. Chancellor Olaf Scholz announced on Wednesday that he did not want to visit the Documenta and spoke of a “scandal”. Of the Jewish general he said through a government spokeswoman that he found “the picture in Kassel disgusting”. Scholz is now demanding “consequences” and is thus clearly addressing “the Documenta management”. Without naming names, the President of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, Josef Schuster, also called for “consideration on personnel consequences”. The resignation of Secretary General Sabine Schormann was demanded in several media.
After several anti-Semitic motifs were discovered in the picture of the Indonesian collective Taring Padi, it was initially covered with black fabric on Monday and finally completely removed on Tuesday.
Not only the fact that the pictures were not noticed in time is now being criticized, but also Schormann’s handling of them. Before the opening, she repeatedly promised that there would be no anti-Semitic content at the documenta. When the anti-Semitic caricatures appeared in Taring Padi’s picture, she declared on Monday evening that “the management of the documenta is not an authority that can have the artistic exhibits presented for inspection in advance and must not be.” In fact, Schormann has the domiciliary rights as Secretary General. It was only on Tuesday evening that she admitted that the pictures were actually anti-Semitic and apologized.
Meron Mendel, head of the Anne Frank educational center, was more moderate. “All is not lost yet, now this crisis must be used as an opportunity to really start a conversation,” he told dpa on Wednesday. The Anne Frank educational center wants to support Kassel with educational offers to educate about anti-Semitism and racism.
Ruangrupa had not commented on the incident as of Wednesday afternoon
the Jewish General calls for the resignation of Minister of State for Culture Claudia Roth. Although the federal government is one of the sponsors of the Documenta through the Federal Cultural Foundation, it is not a shareholder of the gGmbH. Roth had repeatedly defended the documenta against criticism in recent weeks.
The silence of the Ruangrupa curatorial collective, which is responsible for this year’s documenta, is also causing increasing irritation. As of Wednesday afternoon, the group had not commented on the incident.
The Documenta has canceled all public events up to and including Friday – “due to current developments in connection with the Covid 19 pandemic”.