With anti-Semitic depictions, the exhibition “gambled away a lot of trust in politics and the art scene,” said Felix Klein. The anti-Semitism commissioner calls on the curatorial collective Ruangrupa to clarify.
After the removal of a work of art with anti-Semitic depictions at the Documenta, the federal government’s anti-Semitism commissioner, Felix Klein, calls for an unreserved investigation of the events. The documenta “lost a massive amount of trust in politics and the art scene,” Klein told the newspapers of the Funke media group. The task now must be to reverse the resulting loss of trust.
“A clarifying, credible statement from the Ruangrupa curating collective would also help,” said Klein.
Felix Klein, Federal Government Commissioner for Anti-Semitism.
(Photo: Britta Pedersen/dpa)
At the Documenta, which opened in Kassel on Saturday, a man in a suit and tie could be seen in a huge hidden object picture by the Indonesian artist group Taring Padi, with shark-like ruffled teeth sticking out of his mouth, and a cigar next to him. A hinted side curl hangs down, the SS rune is emblazoned on the hat. This equates Jews with Nazis.
Another detail shows a person in uniform under a cannon barrel, wearing the nose of a pig, which devout Jews consider unclean. The Star of David can be seen on the red scarf and the name of the Israeli secret service Mossad on the helmet. After public protests, the picture “People’s Justice” was initially covered with black cloths on Monday evening and then removed on Tuesday evening by decision of the Documenta supervisory board.