Once a clear anti-Semitic image with additional Holocaust connotations – a figure with a large nose, pointed teeth and side locks, adorned with an “SS” cap – was noticed in a massive agitprop tableau housed in a central Kassel Square was built, the integrity of Documenta itself, which works on public funds, came into play.
The incident was terribly avoidable. The mural-like banner by the Indonesian collective Taring Padi dates back to 2002; it depicts Indonesian political life as a great struggle of oppressors, capitalists and polluters against the people, with ancestors watching. It only went up at the end of the preview on the Friedrichsplatz, the center of the show, during which Taring Padi captivated visitors with hundreds of cardboard dolls on the same square and in the town.
Months before Documenta, critics had previously made accusations, especially that participants supported the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement, which declared the German parliament anti-Semitic. Before the show was installed, the Question of Funding, a Palestinian group of artists, was targeted by vandals who broke into and exhibited at the exhibit space.
In this fuel climate, a degree of vigilance could be expected. But from whom? The banner, which apparently went up late because it was being restored, eluded the investigation of Ruangrupa, whose members in an apology said they had failed to spot the offensive elements. Sabine Schormann, Documenta’s director general, told the news magazine Der Spiegel that administrators did not pre-select art, out of respect for artistic freedom.
The work has been removed. But for Germany’s founding, this Documenta is clearly over. A flood of criticism from politicians and the media declared the entire exhibition a national embarrassment, called for greater state control over future spending and demanded Schormann’s resignation. The management has now announced that, notwithstanding artistic freedom, Ruangrupa will have to review the entire show for offensive content with support from the Anne Frank Center in Frankfurt – to set up a battle with artists.