documenta on allegations: No place for anti-Semitism

Created: 04/28/2022, 19:52

A sign "documenta fifteen" can be seen in front of the Museum Fridericianum.

© Swen Pförtner/dpa/archive image

The documenta fifteen art exhibition in Kassel feels unjustly attacked by the Central Council of Jews in Germany.

There is no place for anti-Semitism, according to a statement by the documenta in Kassel for the German Press Agency in Berlin.

Berlin/Kassel - President of the Central Council Josef Schuster had previously criticized the way the documenta dealt with anti-Semitism in a letter to Minister of State for Culture Claudia Roth (Greens).

Among other things, it was about the composition of forums that should discuss the topic.

The documenta now pointed out that the event series “We Need To Talk!

Art - Freedom - Solidarity" is "a critical and multi-perspective series of talks, which is conceived from an in-depth study and also from great concern about increasing anti-Semitism and racism in our society".

She also addresses "the recurring problems for internationally active cultural and scientific institutions in dealing with internationally controversial definitions of anti-Semitism" and "the origins of the generalizing and sometimes racist attacks on the artistic team of documenta fifteen".

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The guests were invited "not because they belong to an official institution, but exclusively on the basis of their scientific expertise".

Working out the differences and overlaps between anti-Semitism and racism is a topic of the series of events.

"In this way, the question of whether postcolonial theory misjudges the specificity of anti-Semitism is also addressed," it said.

“As with documenta fifteen, there is no place for anti-Semitism.

There is also no platform for generalized statements about people with a Muslim or other background, such as those expressed in the attacks on documenta fifteen.” Beyond the series of talks, the documenta will also address the complex of topics from different sides.

dpa