Following criticism from the Central Council of Jews in Germany, the Documenta in Kassel on Wednesday canceled its series of talks “We need to talk!
Art – Freedom – Solidarity”.
The series was planned as a debate on the allegations of anti-Semitism against the curators of the Ruangrupa artist collective.
“The documenta will first begin with the exhibition and let it speak for itself, in order to then continue the discussion appropriately on this basis.
At this point in time, the goal that documenta wanted to achieve with the series of talks, to open up a multi-perspective dialogue beyond institutional frameworks, seems difficult to achieve,” says the letter of justification published by the documenta management.
Kevin Hanschke
volunteer.
Follow I follow
It is important for the Documenta not to let the thread of the conversation break off.
They plan to take the format further with a different approach at Documenta Fifteen, which opens on June 18.
The Documenta started the series after a Kassel "Alliance against Anti-Semitism" accused the curators' collective earlier this year of involving organizations in the exhibition that supported the boycott of Israel or made anti-Semitic statements.
The three events were intended to debate "the basic right of artistic freedom in the face of increasing racism and anti-Semitism and increasing Islamophobia".
Last week, the President of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, Josef Schuster, wrote to Minister of State for Culture Claudia Roth and criticized the way the Documenta dealt with the issue of anti-Semitism.
Among other things, he complained about the occupation of the forums and criticized the fact that the umbrella organization of the Jewish community was not involved.