The heavily disputed large-scale banner installation at the documenta in Kassel is being dismantled. Previously, several federal and state cultural politicians had criticized the veiling of the work of art as insufficient.
The work called “People’s Justice” by the Indonesian artist collective Taring Padi at documenta 15 in Kassel caused a wave of outrage. Now it is being dismantled, as Kassel’s Lord Mayor Christian Geselle (SPD) announced on Tuesday. Many saw anti-Semitic motifs in the work. The installation shows, among other things, a soldier with a pig’s face. He wears a scarf with a Star of David and a helmet with the inscription “Mossad” – the name of the Israeli foreign intelligence service.
“I’m angry, disappointed and hurt,” Geselle said. “As mayors and as a city, we feel ashamed by the anti-Semitic motives.” Immense damage was caused to Kassel and the documenta.
Geselle criticized that the artistic management had not fulfilled its responsibility to ensure that anti-Semitism, racism and any kind of discrimination had no place at the world art exhibition. That is why the supervisory board, of which he is the chairman, decided unanimously to follow the position of the general director of the documenta, Sabine Schormann, and to have the artwork removed.
Work of art initially only covered
Those responsible for the documenta initially decided to cover the work with black panels of fabric – only three days after it had been installed. Cultural politicians from the federal government and the state of Hesse had criticized this as insufficient.
Minister of State for Culture Claudia Roth (Greens) said on Tuesday in Berlin: “It is long overdue that this mural, which clearly has anti-Semitic pictorial elements, is now removed from the documenta. The mere veiling and the statement by the Taring Padi artist collective on this were absolutely unacceptable .”
“Take a look at other works”
Hesse’s Minister of Art, Angela Dorn (Greens), had expressed a similar view: “Anti-Semitic content must not be shown or reproduced.” The damage that has already occurred cannot be put into perspective. “We have to work through how it was possible for such a visual language to be shown publicly at the documenta,” explained Dorn. The other works by the artist collective Taring Padi should also be “taken a closer look at”.
Dorn expressly criticized a passage in the statement published on the documenta homepage by the artist group Taring Padi. She described her now hidden work as a “monument to mourning the impossibility of dialogue at this moment”. “I distance myself from this statement,” said Dorn. “The work of art contains anti-Semitic codes that Jews rightly feel hurt by. Of course, no dialogue is possible on the basis of insults and injuries,” emphasized the Hessian minister.
No question of hurt feelings of individuals
Claudia Roth went on to say that anti-Semitism is not a question of hurt feelings on the part of individuals. A clearly anti-Semitic imagery cannot be explained or put into perspective by another context. The removal of the work is only a first step. “It must be clarified how this mural with anti-Semitic image elements was installed there in the first place,” emphasized the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media. “I also call on those responsible for documenta and the curators to immediately check and ensure that no other clearly anti-Semitic visual elements are shown at documenta,” says Roth.
The protection of human dignity, protection against anti-Semitism, racism and any form of misanthropy are “the foundations of our coexistence”. These foundations formed “a clear and immovable boundary for the high good of artistic freedom”. Representatives of Judaism had described the work in question as clearly anti-Semitic. On the documenta homepage itself, there was only mention of a depiction of figures “that offer anti-Semitic readings”.
Journeyman: do not put documenta under general suspicion
Kassel’s mayor journeyman announced a work-up. However, he emphasized that documenta 15 should not be placed under general suspicion. She has “been of great importance for the city, the state of Hesse, Germany and social dialogue for more than 60 years”.
The current debate weighs heavily on the documenta and the city, but it could be an “absolutely necessary beginning of an open dialogue with the different positions of a global society”.
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