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Documenta and Colonial Thinking: The Kasseler Völkerschau

2022-09-15T20:45:55.183Z


In addition to anti-Semitism, the documenta has another problem: it reproduces an old form of exploitation.


Enlarge image

Artist at Documenta 15 in Kassel

Photo: Martin Meissner / AP

When the rubble of the Documenta is cleared over the next few weeks and months to uncover the causes of the disaster, it could become apparent that a concept from the colonial era has been extended into the present in Kassel: the concept of the Völkerschau.

At the time when about half of the world was ruled by a few powers, including the Germans, the so-called 'Völkerschau' were a big attraction.

Tens of thousands of visitors flocked to Hamburg, Munich and Berlin, but also to Paris, London, Rome and Basel to marvel at people from the colonies, from countries that are now part of the Global South – such as Indonesia, the homeland of Ruangrupa.

»The artist collective from Jakarta based their documenta fifteen on the values ​​and ideas of lumbung (Indonesian term for a communal rice barn),« says the website of the exhibition, which takes place every five years.

So the idea of ​​those responsible for the German documenta was to bring a piece of Indonesia to Kassel, as authentically as possible.

That sounds honorable and was certainly well intentioned.

But it pretty much reproduces what has been done at many ethnological shows.

The events that the Hamburg animal dealer and zoo founder Carl Hagenbeck made popular in Germany towards the end of the 19th century were not only intended to entertain their audience, but also to educate and instruct them.

In order to give his “anthropological-zoological exhibitions” the most serious possible touch, he invited scientists to examine the physique of the people on display with their measuring devices and ask them about their customs and collective imaginary worlds.

Then as now at the Documenta, authenticity was a high value.

And even then it was a professional business.

The people who were exhibited almost always showed up voluntarily and in return for payment.

That they were humiliated and exploited and often treated badly - no question.

From today's perspective, human zoos are abominable because humans were made into resources to satisfy the curiosity and curiosity of visitors.

But is the Documenta concept so much different and better?

Those responsible in Germany are established intellectuals who have decided to access a very special resource: the unadulterated raw material of creativity in the Global South.

That too is a form of exploitation.

Whether the import of unadulterated anti-Semitism was also part of the plan, or whether it was collateral damage caused by naivety, only further investigation can show.

more on the subject

  • New escalation in the Documenta dispute: "Anti-Zionist, anti-Semitic, hostile to Israel" by Ulrike Knöfel

  • Art festival in Kassel: The political explosive power of the documenta by Carola Padtberg

If you want to take artists from other countries seriously, with their social and political concerns, their cultural context, their personal expressiveness, you have to say goodbye to the principle of the Völkerschau.

Respect alone requires maintaining the criteria of the local art world, in which curating, evaluating and discarding is done according to local standards.

Art has a right to criticism.

If there is no criticism, then the artistic creation is ethnologized as in one of those colorful markets that used to be in the ethnological museums, which are no longer called that today.

If you want to prevent something similar to what happened at the Documenta from happening again, you have to find your inner colonialist and confront it.

One of the most recognizable features of this treacherous demon is his desire to help the world's downtrodden in order to do something good and make himself feel better about himself.

In earlier times this was reflected in Christian missionary work, then as a self-imposed mission to spread Western civilization across the globe.

Today it can happen that the demon of colonization slips into the guise of post-colonial empathy.

This is exactly what happened in Kassel, with the well-known consequences.

Source: spiegel

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