The organizers of the contemporary art exhibition Documenta in Germany have released a statement condemning members of the curatorial collective ruangrupa’s engagement with Instagram posts related to a pro-Palestine rally in Berlin. Two members of ruangrupa, which curated the exhibition’s 2022 edition, allegedly “liked” videos of people chanting “viva Palestine” and “Palestine will be free” at a demonstration on Saturday, October 7.
Hyperallergic has contacted ruangrupa for comment. According to Documenta’s statement, the ruangrupa members in question have since un-liked the Instagram posts and “acknowledged them as mistakes.”
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Documenta Managing Director Andreas Hoffmann described the engagement with the posts as “unbearable and unacceptable” in light of Hamas’s attack on Israeli civilians this weekend. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu formally announced the beginning of a war on Sunday, October 8 and has since declared a “complete siege” of the Gaza Strip, cutting off electricity, water, and food access to the densely populated territory as the Israel Defense Forces conduct fatal airstrikes. More than 1,000 civilians have died and over 120,000 Palestinians have been displaced.
Documenta takes place every five years in the city of Kassel in central Germany and runs for 100 days. The exhibition was founded in 1955 by art professor Arnold Bode, who envisioned his “Society for Western Art of the 20th Century” in part as a platform to showcase works by modern artists once deemed “degenerate” by the Nazis. Recent editions of Documenta have attracted hundreds of thousands of visitors across dozens of spaces, with the Fridericianum Museum remaining its central venue.
The 15th edition of Documenta last year faced accusations of antisemitism and managerial incompetence after a German blogger amplified ruangrupa’s condemnation of the German Parliament’s assertion that the Boycott, Divestment, Sactions (BDS) movement is antisemitic, among other actions indicating the collective’s denouncement of the Israeli government. The blog post was then picked up by German news outlets, drawing backlash toward ruangrupa and Documenta simultaneously.
The accusations were exacerbated after a large banner addressing the Suharto military dictatorship in Indonesia that was included in the exhibition was covered up hours after Documenta 15 opened due to depictions of Orthodox Jewish individuals and the Israeli intelligence agency Mossad that were criticized as antisemitic. In the fallout of the controversy, the Anne Frank Educational Centre in Frankfurt leader Meron Mendel stepped down from his position as a consultant for the exhibition, and filmmaker Hito Steyerl withdrew entirely, stating that she had “no confidence in the organisation’s ability to mediate and translate complexity.”
Documenta has not yet responded to Hyperallergic‘s request for additional comment.
Source: Hyperallergic.com