Syrian art shows stereotypes: More anti-Semitic images discovered at Documenta

The anti-Semitism scandal surrounding a banner at the Documenta in Kassel cost Director General Schormann her position.

Syrian art shows stereotypes: More anti-Semitic images discovered at Documenta

The anti-Semitism scandal surrounding a banner at the Documenta in Kassel cost Director General Schormann her position. But after the departure there is only a short rest. The anti-Semitism Hesse research and information center criticizes another presentation at the art fair.

The anti-Semitism scandal surrounding the Documenta continues: At the World Art Show in Kassel, further motifs criticized as anti-Semitic were found. According to the Research and Information Center for Antisemitism Hessen (RIAS Hessen), a visitor to the exhibition noticed corresponding depictions in the Museum Fridericianum and reported it to RIAS Hessen. The research and information center verified the report, said project manager Susanne Urban. The "Jewish General" reported first. The Documenta rejected the allegations.

According to Urban, these are depictions in a brochure entitled "Presence des Femmes", which was published in Algiers in 1988. The drawings by the Syrian artist Burhan Karkoutly contained in it partly showed anti-Semitic stereotypes and the country of Palestine, provided with classifications that denied the legitimacy of the State of Israel.

According to the information, the brochure was issued by the initiative "Archives des luttes des femmes en Algérie" ("Archives of women's struggles in Algeria"). Its goal is to "build a digital and freely accessible archive with documents on feminist collectives and associations in Algeria, especially those that have emerged since the country's independence in 1962," according to the Documenta website. According to Urban, the brochure was not classified on the subject of the women's archive.

The Documenta rejected the allegations. The historical archive material was taken out of the exhibition about three weeks ago in order to examine it more closely. "According to the investigation, while there is a clear reference to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, there is no depiction of Jews 'as such,'" the statement said. "The Star of David is a distinctly Jewish symbol, but as part of the national flag it denotes the Israeli military."

The work was classified as not relevant under criminal law. After viewing, the material was returned to the exhibition. Shortly after the opening of the most important exhibition for contemporary art next to the Venice Biennale in mid-June, a work with anti-Semitic imagery was discovered and dismantled. Months earlier there had been allegations of anti-Semitism against the curating artist collective Ruangrupa from Indonesia. As a result of the scandal, Documenta Director General Sabine Schormann resigned from her position. Alexander Farenholtz was appointed interim managing director.

Farenholtz had only recently emphasized that the Documenta exhibition was on an "excellent course" and stressed that there would be no examination of the remaining works of art: "Under no circumstances should the impression arise that the scientific support will introduce a control authority," he said. The federal government's anti-Semitism commissioner, Felix Klein, told the "Bild" newspaper that the failure of those responsible continues. "These hateful images show that the new Documenta management has still not drawn the necessary substantive and structural conclusions from the previous scandal."

Klein demands that all exhibits be viewed and checked for anti-Semitic content. The Documenta announced: "There will be no screening of the exhibition for any anti-Semitic motifs." RIAS Hessen is based at the Democracy Center Hessen at the Philipps University of Marburg. The contact point records anti-Semitic incidents throughout Hesse and documents them in monitoring reports. With it, anti-Semitism "is to be specifically recorded, analyzed, documented and thus also combated below the criminal liability limit," explained Hesse's Interior Minister Peter Beuth when it was released in April of this year.