People’s Justice
Artist: Taring Padi
Year: 2022
Date of Action: 2022-2023
Region: Europe
Location: Kassel, Germany
Subject: Political/Economic/Social Opinion
Medium: Installation, Public Art
Confronting Bodies: Documenta management, scientific advisory panel
Description of Artwork: Documenta is a biennial exhibition of contemporary art hosted by Museum Fridericianum in Kassel, Germany, which takes place every five years. Ruangrupa, an Indonesian arts collective, curated Documenta 15, inviting 67 other core participants mainly from the Global South. Each invited group was allocated a budget, which many used to involve other artists and collectives, resulting in a final roster of over 1,000 people. Taring Padi, one of the collectives at Documenta 15, erected an agitprop tableau which included an antisemitic image of a figure with a large nose, pointy teeth, side-locks, and an “SS” cap.
The Incident: Taring Padi's image, with its Holocaust connotations, generated immediate and considerable controversy. Ruangrupa's members said in an apology that they had failed to spot the offensive elements of Taring Padi's installation. Documenta management told the press that no administrators had screened any art in advance, out of respect for artistic freedom.
Results of Incident: The offending artwork was removed. Documenta's management announced that Ruangrupa had to review the entire show for offensive content with support from the Anne Frank Center in Frankfurt. Documenta organized a committee which they called a "scientific advisory panel" to investigate the incident and produce a report on it. The goal of the committee's report was to provide objective evidence of anti-Semitism in some of the works at Documenta 15, and its ultimate conclusion was that Documenta 15 became “an echo chamber for Israel-related anti-Semitism, and sometimes for pure anti-Semitism.” Ruangrupa curators and around 65 participating artists from Documenta 15 said, “because we stand by our rejection of censorship, we vigorously opposed the creation of this scientific advisory panel.”
Source:
• https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/24/arts/design/documenta-review.html?searchResultPosition=1,
• https://www.artnews.com/art-news/news/documenta-panel-final-report-antisemitism-1234656361/
