Ruangrupa to anti-Semitism

»We feel cornered«

Two members of ruangrupa, this year's documenta curatorial team, Farid Rakun and Reza Afisina, spoke Aug. 13 about the anti-Semitism allegations for the first time since the opening with Süddeutsche Zeitung. With more than half of the exhibition already over, the collective feels the atmosphere of documenta fifteen is poisoned.

On the one hand, Rakun and Afisiana admit mistakes; on the other, they deny ever having acted anti-Semitically. They reject the accusations made in January that the team was close to the Israel boycott movement BDS - he, Afisiana, first had to Google BDS. In the meantime, he says, the accusations are disproportionate: »Even when you've already proven the other person right, he won't give you a break. We often feel cornered,« he charges. Rakun says the group has encountered prejudice from the start: »If it wasn't anti-Semitism, it would be something else, that's been clear since January and is becoming clearer every day.«

But they stringently affirm their firm rejection of anti-Semitism, »just like any other form of oppression and discrimination.« They apparently didn't realize »how raw the memory of the war, of the Holocaust, still is here. Maybe we should have given more space to that.« As for the eclat with the work People's Justice (2002) on the day of the opening, Rakun admits, »If we'd seen the painting, alarm bells would have rung.«

History-making as an anti-Semitic art show

But the fact that there is now a panel of seven scholars to accompany and advise the documenta in the coming period is something he sees as paternalism and censorship: »You can sugarcoat it, that's exactly what they did here. But when we first read about it in the public statement, it very much said that they have the right to remove works and disinvite artists. That fear remains.«

In addition, according to Rakun's statements, some artists did not feel welcome at documenta because 90-day visas kept forcing them to leave. Some of them had also experienced assaults - a side of the event that should not go unmentioned either.

The president of the Central Council of Jews, Dr. Josef Schuster, meanwhile, professed himself stunned by the handling of anti-Semitic art in a press release on July 28: »For weeks, this country has been discussing anti-Semitism, BDS and hatred of Israel. The documenta management continues to act as if this is none of its business. Obviously, it is irrelevant who is the director there. One has to ask oneself how far gone we are in Germany when these images can be deemed good as supposed 'criticism of Israel'. (...) This documenta will go down in history as an anti-Semitic art show. (...) That this documenta can really run until September 25 seems hardly conceivable anymore.« He is referring to further anti-Semitic imagery discovered as recently as the end of July on exhibited drawings from 1988.

Hanging out in tense atmosphere

Meanwhile, communal hanging out continues at the Nongkrong behind the Fridericianum. It serves as a temporary living room for some of the guests. They spend the night in the dormitory, which has moved into the building for the duration of the documenta. The communal living, working, and celebrating embodies the spirit of Gudskul, an alternative art school that ruangrupa co-founded with other Indonesian collectives Serrum and Grafis Huru Hara in Jakarta in 2018. The classes will take place during documenta in Kassel. The Frankfurter Rundschau gives a vivid impression of the communal get-together during a visit to Nongkrong. The motto »Make friends not art« had contributed a lot to the planned construction of the Ecosistem.

Whether the atmosphere is finally poisoned or not, documenta fifteen is still anything but light-hearted and will certainly be remembered.