The documenta fifteen in Kassel has come to an end after 100 days. The world art exhibition was overshadowed by allegations of anti-Semitism until the last opening day. The International Auschwitz Committee drew a devastating balance on Sunday: “At the end of documenta fifteen, the defiant insistence of many of those responsible and the retreat behind the walls of their own arrogance became the sad reality of this art festival,” said Executive Vice President Christoph Heubner according to the announcement .
At the same time, documenta fifteen attracted numerous visitors – even if, according to interim managing director Alexander Farenholtz, the number was around 15 to 20 percent below the record value of the previous event. In 2017, documenta 14 attracted around 891,500 people to Kassel, and 339,000 more people to the second location in Athens. The provisional figures for this year are therefore estimated to be between around 710,000 and 760,000 visitors. Final numbers are expected this Monday.
For the International Auschwitz Committee, Heubner complained that the criticism of the existence of the State of Israel repeatedly staged at the documenta was stuck “deep in the well-known swamp of anti-Semitic prejudices” and never understood that people were also being hurt, defamed and marginalized here, who have had to experience this to the bitter end before in their family history.
Criticism of Indonesian curators
He went on to say: “The fact that this anti-Semitic connotation was possible in Germany and at documenta fifteen for more than 100 days, despite growing criticism and opportunities for discussion, will remain the lasting flaw of this project, which marks a turning point in Germany and exposes many political statements as lip service. “
The world’s most important exhibition for contemporary art alongside the Venice Biennale was shaken by repeated accusations of anti-Semitism. Already at the beginning of the year, the first voices were raised accusing the Indonesian curator collective Ruangrupa and some invited artists of being close to the anti-Israel boycott movement BDS. Shortly after opening in mid-June, a work with anti-Semitic imagery was discovered and dismantled. Even after that, works with anti-Jewish stereotypes were discovered.
“The Documenta is facing a heap of shards, but a new world can also be put together from shards,” explained Auschwitz Committee representative Heubner. In Germany, politics and society would have to talk about this turning point and the debates that erupted from documenta fifteen and reassess the realities of anti-Semitism and Israel hatred in an international context. The Documenta must develop a concept that takes one’s own responsibility seriously and enables new, provocative perspectives on the disturbing reality of our world.
