This piece, a nearly 60-foot-long painted banner called “People’s Justice,” was created by the Indonesian Taring Padi collective in 2002, when its members included activists who had fought under Indonesia’s military dictatorship. The lively, cartoonish depiction of the political resistance of the banner includes hundreds of individual figures. Two of these figures caused outrage on Monday, after photos of them were circulated on social media. One was a man with locks on the side and fangs, wearing a hat with a Nazi emblem. The other was a soldier with a pig’s head, wearing a scarf with the Star of David and a helmet that read “Mossad”, the name of Israel’s security service. (Other persons in the project were identified as members of the intelligence forces, including the British MI5 and the KGB) The Israeli embassy in Germany said in a series of tweets that Documenta was promoting “Goebbels-type propaganda” – a reference to the leading Nazi propagandist. “In my opinion, these are anti-Semitic images,” said Claudia Roth, Germany’s culture minister, in a statement posted on social media. “This is where artistic freedom finds its limits,” he added. Within hours of these comments, Documenta had covered the project with sheets of black cloth. Taring Pandy said in a press release issued by Documenta organizers on Monday that the project “was not intended to be in any way related to anti-Semitism” and “it is unfortunate that the details on this banner are understood differently from its original purpose”. The play was a commentary on the “militarism and violence” experienced by Indonesians during Suharto’s 32-year dictatorship, which ended in 1998, the collective said. “We apologize for the inconvenience,” Taring Padi added. “There is no record in our work that aims to portray an ethnic group in a negative way.” But Documenta’s decision to hide “People’s Justice” failed to draw a line under the controversy, which was raging all Tuesday on social media, radio and television. The exhibition’s supervisory board, which includes Kassel Mayor Christian Gessel, met and decided to remove the artwork, according to a news release from the city authorities late in the afternoon. Held every five years, Documenta is widely regarded as one of the most important events in the art world, competing only with the Venice Biennale. This year’s edition, the 15th, is curated by ruangrupa, another Indonesian art collective. Ruangrupa invited 14 other artist collectives to take part. These groups then invited other collectives to join. Most of the participating artists are from the South of the World, with a small number of participants from Europe and the United States. In January, a protest group called the Alliance Against Antisemitism Kassel accused ruangrupa of supporting the boycott of Israel and also called for the inclusion in a Palestinian collective art exhibition called The Question of Funding, which he said his supporters were also in favor of. boycott. German newspaper columnists and politicians soon addressed these concerns. In May, Felix Klein, the German government official in charge of fighting anti-Semitism, criticized the lack of Israeli artists in Documenta. That same month, intruders sprayed graffiti on the showroom that was scheduled to host The Question of Funding. In the days leading up to the exhibition last week, when journalists and art connoisseurs took a look at the show, the debate over anti-Semitism seemed to have subsided. But the issue raised its head again at the opening ceremony of the event on Saturday, when German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier mentioned it repeatedly in a speech. “I want to be honest: for the last few weeks I have not been sure if I would be here with you today,” he said. Artistic freedom was at the heart of the German constitution, he added, and criticism of the Israeli government was allowed. However, he added, “it is striking that no Jewish artist from Israel is represented in this important exhibition of contemporary art.” Steinmeier did not mention “People’s Justice”, which was installed only on Friday, the last day of the Documenta preview. However, just two days later he was at the center of the debate. The pressure on Documenta organizers is unlikely to end with the removal of the project. Charlotte Knobloch, a former chairwoman of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, said in a telephone interview on Tuesday that “anti-Semitism was not taken seriously as a problem” and that more action was needed in the report. Sabine Schormann, general manager of Documenta, will have to resign, Knobloch said, and the wider organization will have to undertake a “soul search”. Documenta organizers ruangrupa and Taring Padi said through a spokesman that they were not immediately available for comment. On Tuesday, Roth, Germany’s culture minister, said in a statement that the removal of the painting was “just the first step”, adding that there should be “further consequences: It should be clarified how this mural could be made with anti-Semitic images.” . settle there. “ Documenta organizers and curators should “immediately check” that there were no other anti-Semitic images in other works on display, Roth added. “The protection of human dignity, the protection against anti-Semitism, racism and all forms of inhumanity are the basis of our coexistence,” he said.
