BERLIN – Banners from an Indonesian arts group that were widely criticized for containing anti-Semitic elements were covered at a major art show in Germany and were to be removed on Tuesday, officials said.
The Documenta art show has been mired in controversy for months, as it featured a group of Palestinian artists who strongly criticize the Israeli occupation.
Taring Padi’s large installation, titled “People’s Justice”, attracted objections after the castle was placed in a central square of the city as part of the Documenta Contemporary Art Show.
The criticism centered on the depiction on the banner of a soldier with the face of a pig, wearing a neckerchief with a Star of David and a helmet with the word “Mossad”, the name of Israel’s intelligence agency.
In the same work, a man is often depicted with sidelocks attached to Orthodox Jews, pointy and bloodied eyes, and is wearing a black hat with the SS insignia.
On Monday, the Israeli embassy in Berlin said it was “shocked by hostile elements” that were being shown at the Kassel and called for their immediate removal from the exhibition. It said that “they have nothing to do with the free expression of thought, but are an expression of old-fashioned antisemitism.”
“The elements being depicted in some of the exhibits are reminiscent of the propaganda used by Goebbels and his hooligans during dark times in German history,” it added. “All the red lines have not only been crossed – they have been shattered.”
Visitors cue in front of the Museum Fridericionum during the press preview of Documenta 15, the world’s most important exhibition of contemporary art, on June 15, 2022 in Kassel, Germany. (AP Photo/Martin Meisner)
Organizers said on Monday – three days after that – that the work would be covered, in what they said was a joint decision with the art collective. On Tuesday, the mayor of Kassel, Christian Gesele, said it would be completely removed during the day.
Germany’s culture minister, Claudia Roth, said in a statement that its removal was “overdue” and “only a first step.”
“More should follow,” she said. “It should be clarified how for this mural to be set up there with antisemitic figurative elements.”
This year’s documentary opens on Saturday.
In a statement posted to his Facebook page following the decision to cover the banner, Taring Padi insisted that the work, first exhibited 20 years ago at the South Australia Arts Festival in Adelaide – “is not related in any way to Is”. ,
It said “all figures depicted on the banner refer to the symbolism that is widespread within the political context of Indonesia.”
“We regret that the details of this banner have been misunderstood other than for their original purpose. We apologize for the injuries caused in this context,” it said.
The documenta, held in the German city of Kassel, includes the works of more than 1,500 participants.
For the first time since its launch in 1955, the show is being curated by a collective from Ruangruppa, Indonesia.
But even for the show’s opening this weekend, the group has come under fire for its inclusion of a collective called “The Question of Funding,” over its links to the BDS boycott Israel movement.
The BDS was declared anti-Semitic by the German parliament in 2019 and barred from receiving federal funds. Nearly half of Documenta’s 42 million euros ($44 million) budget comes from public funding.
Inaugurating the exhibition later this week, German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier said he had considered skipping the event.
“While some criticism is justified for Israel’s policies, such as on settlement building,” he said, the recognition of the state of Israel is “the basis and prerequisite for debate” in Germany.
