An installation by an Indonesian collective, representing a pig disguised as an Israeli army soldier, had been denounced by several associations and the Israeli embassy.
The director of Documenta, a prestigious German contemporary art meeting in Kassel, will leave her post following a controversy over content deemed anti-Semitic, officials of this event announced on Saturday.
Documenta’s Supervisory Board expressed “his deep dismay that clearly anti-Semitic motives could be observedat the opening of the contemporary art fair in June, according to a press release. As a result, an agreement was reached with the director, Sabine Schormann, for “terminate (one’s) contract“.
The work “People’s Justicewhich caused a scandal came from the Indonesian collective Taring Padi. Reason: this fresco of twenty meters, critical parable “of the capitalist system and military violence”, according to its authors, has been accused of anti-Semitism by several associations representing the Jews of Germany, as well as the Israeli Embassy.
“Learning from this incident»
It showed a soldier with a pig’s head, a Star of David and the inscription “Mossadon his helmet. There was also a man with long teeth, curly hair, a hat with the inscription of the Nazi SS and a cigar at the corner of the mouth, reminiscent of anti-Semitic caricatures of Orthodox Jews.
This work was quickly covered with a black veil but it cast opprobrium on this world-class exhibition taking place every five years and of which this is the fifteenth edition.
“It is essential to quickly clarify this incident» and from «learn lessons“, in order to avoid anti-Semitic excesses in the cultural and artistic world, continues the press release. “A lot of trust has unfortunately been lostto the detriment of the exhibition, underlines this text.
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