After the anti-Semitism scandal at the documenta, general director Sabine Schormann is resigning from her position. It was said that they had agreed on this by mutual agreement.
Sabine Schormann (archive image)
Just a few days ago, documenta boss Sabine Schormann defended her actions after the anti-Semitism scandal with reference to artistic freedom. She published a detailed statement on the documenta 15 homepage, about which Minister of State for Culture Claudia Roth said she was “very surprised and alienated”.
On Friday evening, the documenta supervisory board and the shareholders finally met to discuss how to proceed. This Saturday it was then said that it had been mutually agreed to terminate the service contract with Sabine Schormann. An interim successor was initially sought. The committee around the chairman, Kassel's mayor Christian Geselle (SPD), and his deputy , Hesse's Minister of Art Angela Dorn (Greens), drew the conclusion from the anti-Semitism scandal at this year's documenta.
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Attempt to come to terms with the documenta scandal
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Expert team should examine documenta
The supervisory board expressed its “deep dismay” that “clearly anti-Semitic motifs” could be seen on the opening weekend of the art show. The presentation of the banner “People's Justice” by the artist collective Taring Padi was a “clear crossing of borders” in “its anti-Semitic imagery”. “This caused considerable damage to the documenta.” A lot of trust was lost. This must now be regained.
“Scientific support” from scientists whose specialist areas are anti-Semitism, postcolonialism and art should now also help here. On the one hand, they should take a look at “processes, structures and receptions” of documenta 15 and make recommendations for the processing. On the other hand, they should also check whether other anti-Semitic elements can be seen at the documenta.
Claudia Roth and Felix Klein welcome decisions
Minister of State for Culture Claudia Roth welcomed the separation from Schormann and the resolutions of the Supervisory Board to deal with the scandal. “These are the first important steps towards a necessary repositioning of this important fixture for contemporary art worldwide,” she told the Frankfurter Rundschau on Sunday.
Claudia Roth, Minister of State for Culture, reacted positively to the decisions of the Supervisory Board
The federal government's anti-Semitism commissioner, Felix Klein, called Schormann's resignation “overdue”. It is now a matter of drawing the necessary structural conclusions. “Anti-Semitism must not be accepted in any form in cultural life, regardless of where the cultural workers come from,” said Klein. The Bundestag's resolution on the so-called BDS movement
should in future be “the binding guideline for the use
of public funds in promoting culture”.
Ruangrupa isn't welcome in Germany?
The “People's Justice” banner was taken down after heavy criticism and the artist collective issued a public apology. With that, the anti-Semitism debate about documenta 15 had only reached its climax. Months before the start there had been allegations of anti-Semitism against the curating artist collective Ruangrupa from Indonesia.
Schormann wrote in her statement that since the first allegations became known in January, there have been many discussions – with the curators and artists, external experts, the supervisory board, the Central Council of Jews in Germany and with Minister of State for Culture Claudia Roth. At that time, curators and artists “feared censorship and therefore rejected an external panel of experts”. Schormann called the incident “extremely painful” and expressed her “deepest regret” that the banner was even installed. At the same time, she also emphasized the freedom of artistic direction and spoke of the concerns of the Indonesian collective Ruangrupa that they would not be welcome in Germany.
The empty scaffolding in Kassel, on which the banner “People's Justice” was once attached
At a distance from the documenta
Schormann's handling of the scandal has been heavily criticized in recent weeks. Daniel Botmann, Managing Director of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, demanded her resignation as well as that of the mayor of Kassel, Geselle, the chairman of the supervisory board of documenta gGmbH Anne Frank and the artist Hito Steyerl distanced themselves from the documenta management. Mendel, who wanted to help deal with the anti-Semitism scandal, gave back his advisory mandate. The German-Japanese media artist and author Hito Steyerl had her film work removed from the exhibition in protest.
The documenta takes place in Kassel every five years and, alongside the Venice Biennale, is considered the most important show for contemporary art.
bb/jj (dpa, afp, documenta)