This week, the board of the documenta forum Kassel e. V. a strange statement. The reason for this was the allegations that an anonymous alliance against anti-Semitism had raised against the curatorial team of Documenta Fifteen, Ruangrupa. The allegations related, among other things, to the Palestinian collective The Question of Funding from Ramallah, which cooperates with a cultural center named after Khalil al-Sakakini. Al-Sakakini (1878–1953) was a reform educator who supported the ideas of Arab nationalism while also sympathizing with Nazism. In addition, Ruangrupa was accused of supporting participants with ties to the BDS campaign, which is critical of Israel.
"Does the Documenta have an anti-Semitism problem?" asked Die Zeit, claiming that this could be the "last Documenta".
In the art magazine “Monopol”, editor-in-chief Elke Buhr replied that if you invite “artists with connections to the Arab world or the global South”, you will meet people “who have a different attitude towards the BDS than the official guidelines of German governments provide policy”.
And so the Minister of State for Culture, Claudia Roth, found herself confronted with the highly emotional debate on post-colonialism within a very short space of time during her new term of office.
Last Monday she consulted with the sponsors of the Documenta, the federal state of Hesse and the city of Kassel.
She supported the organizers:
A clear positioning
And the board of documenta forum Kassel e.
V., the circle of friends of the documenta, published a statement on the same evening in which he defended the "political and social claim to a broadening of the perspective of the documenta" - and added the following paragraph: "This openness is based on the foundation of our basic law, which is set out in Article 5 III clearly formulated: 'Art and science, research and teaching are free.'
This is exactly what the 'Initiative GG 5.3 Cosmopolitanism' recalled in 2020 in its plea, which found over 1500 signatories, including many leaders of public and private institutions from culture, science, media and literature.”
The “Initiative GG 5.3 Cosmopolitanism” criticized the decision of the Bundestag in May 2019 not to support the Boycott Divestment and Sanctions movement (BDS), which denies Israel’s right to exist, with federal funds. The signatories felt that this would lead to exclusion and self-censorship. The Bundestag resolution condemned BDS as anti-Semitic. Claudia Roth expressly did not agree with the resolution. Andreas Görgen, Claudia Roth's new head of office, had been the key advisor to the "GG 5.3 Cosmopolitan Initiative".
By the board documenta forum Kassel e. V. now refers to the "Initiative GG 5.3 Cosmopolitanism", he is clearly on the side of those who criticize the Bundestag decision. It is as if he were once again signing the wording of the initiative with this statement. He does this without referring to Israel's special right to exist in the same press release. Unlike Hesse's art minister, Angela Dorn, who is also deputy chairwoman of the Documenta supervisory board. In a statement, the latter emphasized that the importance and defense of Israel's right to exist are "inextricably linked to our historical responsibility". The authors of the press release have thus taken a clear position: no one, even if they support BDS, may be put under pressure or even uninvited.If Claudia Roth does not object here and if this prevails not only among friends, but also as the official position of the documenta, that means that the Bundestag decision on the documenta will be effectively annulled. That would say a lot about how serious Germany and the new government are about professing anti-Semitism.