5 October 2022

New interim management for documenta und Museum Fridericianum gGmbH


Dr. Ferdinand von Saint André has been appointed interim managing director of documenta und Museum Fridericianum gGmbH as of October 1, 2022. This has now been announced by documenta Supervisory Board Chairman and Lord Mayor of Kassel Christian Geselle. Prior to the decision, the City of Kassel and the State of Hesse, as shareholders of documenta gGmbH, had reached an agreement on the appointment of the new interim managing director. Geselle subsequently informed the members of the Supervisory Board of the decision. More


Dr. Ferdinand von Saint André has been appointed interim managing director of documenta und Museum Fridericianum gGmbH as of October 1, 2022. This has now been announced by documenta Supervisory Board Chairman and Lord Mayor of Kassel Christian Geselle. Prior to the decision, the City of Kassel and the State of Hesse, as shareholders of documenta gGmbH, had reached an agreement on the appointment of the new interim managing director. Geselle subsequently informed the members of the Supervisory Board of the decision.


“When one documenta ends another begins. Dr. von Saint André is now to manage the company as interim managing director. With a view to documenta 16, a long-term appointment will of course be made,” explained Lord Mayor Geselle.


Dr. Ferdinand von Saint André is 50 years of age, married and a father of three children. He holds a doctorate in law and most recently spent around six years as managing director at the Stiftung Gebäudeensemble Joachimsthalsches Gymnasium Templin—a large, European school project. As legal counsel and head of the contracts department, he also worked at the Federal Cultural Foundation from 2006 to 2014. He is therefore no stranger to “modern cultural administration”: “I am grateful for the trust placed in me by the shareholders and the Supervisory Board at documenta gGmbH. I very much look forward to my time in Kassel and the challenging task ahead. documenta is something particularly close to my heart.”


Portraitphoto of Dr. Ferdinand von Saint André for Download


credits: documenta und Museum Fridericianum gGmbH, Dr. Ferdinand von Saint André, Photo: Nicolas Wefers, 2022.

26 September 2022

documenta 16 will run from June 12 to September 19, 2027

Yesterday, Sunday, September 25, 2022, the dates for documenta 16 were announced in line with tradition by Christian Geselle, Chairman of the Supervisory Board and Lord Mayor of the City of Kassel. documenta 16 will run from June 12 to September 19, 2027.More

Yesterday, Sunday, September 25, 2022, the dates for documenta 16 were announced in line with tradition by Christian Geselle, Chairman of the Supervisory Board and Lord Mayor of the City of Kassel. documenta 16 will run from June 12 to September 19, 2027.

16 September 2022

Gemeinsame Erklärung des Aufsichtsrates und der Gesellschafter der documenta und Museum Fridericianum gGmbH

Der Aufsichtsrat und die Gesellschafter der documenta und Museum Fridericianum gGmbH, das Land Hessen und die Stadt Kassel, danken der Fachwissenschaftlichen Begleitung, die die Gesellschafter der documenta zur Aufarbeitung antisemitischer Vorkommnisse auf der documenta fifteen eingesetzt haben, für ihre erste Analyse und die bis hierhin geleistete Arbeit. Die Gesellschafter schließen sich dem Votum der Wissenschaftlerinnen und Wissenschaftler an, wonach die Tokyo Reels des Kollektivs Subversive Films nicht mehr gezeigt werden sollen, mindestens bis eine angemessene Kontextualisierung vorgenommen wurde. Die aktuelle Kommentierung der Filme ist dazu nicht geeignet, da sie die teils antisemitischen und terroristische Gewalt verherrlichenden Propagandafilme gerade nicht historisch einordnet.More

Der Aufsichtsrat und die Gesellschafter der documenta und Museum Fridericianum gGmbH, das Land Hessen und die Stadt Kassel, danken der Fachwissenschaftlichen Begleitung, die die Gesellschafter der documenta zur Aufarbeitung antisemitischer Vorkommnisse auf der documenta fifteen eingesetzt haben, für ihre erste Analyse und die bis hierhin geleistete Arbeit. Die Gesellschafter schließen sich dem Votum der Wissenschaftlerinnen und Wissenschaftler an, wonach die Tokyo Reels des Kollektivs Subversive Films nicht mehr gezeigt werden sollen, mindestens bis eine angemessene Kontextualisierung vorgenommen wurde. Die aktuelle Kommentierung der Filme ist dazu nicht geeignet, da sie die teils antisemitischen und terroristische Gewalt verherrlichenden Propagandafilme gerade nicht historisch einordnet.


Die Freiheit der Kunst ist ein hohes Gut und die exklusive künstlerische Verantwortung der documenta fifteen liegt bei ruangrupa. Die Kuratorinnen und Kuratoren weigern sich jedoch, die damit verbundene Verantwortung wahrzunehmen oder in eine selbstkritische Reflexion der Ereignisse zu gehen. Sie werfen im Gegenteil dem wissenschaftlich breit aufgestellten und renommierten Fachwissenschaftlichen Gremium mit seiner interdisziplinären Expertise Rassismus und Unwissenschaftlichkeit vor. Diese Vorwürfe weisen wir auf das Schärfste zurück.


Wir bedauern und kritisieren, dass die Künstlerische Leitung entgegen der Beratung durch die Fachwissenschaftliche Begleitung und dringliche Empfehlung durch die Gesellschafter auf die Fortsetzung der Vorführung der Tokyo Reels des Kollektivs Subversive Films besteht, ohne dass eine kritische Einordnung der antisemitischen und gewaltverherrlichenden Inhalte erfolgt. Der Aufsichtsrat und die Gesellschafter betrachten es als notwendig, dass den Besucherinnen und Besuchern der documenta eine solche Einordnung zur Verfügung gestellt wird. Wir bitten deshalb die Künstlerische Leitung, die einhellige Einschätzung der Fachwissenschaftlichen Begleitung in der Ausstellung ergänzend zur eigenen Kontextualisierung sichtbar zu machen. Alternativ behalten sich die Gesellschafter vor, diese Informationen außerhalb der Ausstellungsräume im Öffentlichen Raum am Zugang zu den Vorführungsorten für die Besucherinnen und Besucher zur Verfügung zu stellen.

9 September 2022

Press release from the undersigned members of the scientific advisory panel of documenta fifteen

We have been appointed by the shareholders of documenta gGmbH as a scientific advisory panel to analyze those works that have been identified or discussed as anti-Semitic, examine how documenta fifteen has dealt with incidents of anti-Semitism, and develop proposals on how to prevent similar occurrences in future. Due to the ongoing controversy surrounding individual exhibits and documenta fifteen as a whole, there is a particular urgency for consultation on these issues. We have therefore submitted to the shareholders an initial assessment by the Undersigned Members of the Panel, which is more comprehensive in some respects than the statement by the panel as a whole.More

We have been appointed by the shareholders of documenta gGmbH as a scientific advisory panel to analyze those works that have been identified or discussed as anti-Semitic, examine how documenta fifteen has dealt with incidents of anti-Semitism, and develop proposals on how to prevent similar occurrences in future. Due to the ongoing controversy surrounding individual exhibits and documenta fifteen as a whole, there is a particular urgency for consultation on these issues. We have therefore submitted to the shareholders an initial assessment by the Undersigned Members of the Panel, which is more comprehensive in some respects than the statement by the panel as a whole.


1. At the Level of Exhibited Works, Film and Archive Materials.
At the level of the exhibited works, the most urgent task, in the panel's view, is to stop the screening of the compilation of pro-Palestinian propaganda films from the 1960s-1980s by the collective "Subversive Film," shown under the name "Tokyo Reels Film Festival." What is highly problematic about this work are not only the film documents laced with anti-Semitic and anti-Zionist fragments, but also the artists' comments inserted between the films, where the hatred of Israel and the glorification of terrorism featured in the source material is legitimized through their uncritical discussion. The historical propaganda material is not critically reflected upon – as it doubtless should be – but affirmed as a purportedly objective factual report. As a result, the films pose a greater danger in their potentially inciteful impact than the already removed "People's Justice" work.


Many of the films present Israel and its armed forces exclusively as perpetrators who deliberately attack civilians, especially women and children. By contrast, the Palestinian side is portrayed as innocent and defenseless. The repeated terrorist attacks against Israeli civilians are not mentioned here – nor in the entire exhibition – nor is the fact that Israel has been regularly attacked by the armies of Syria, Jordan and Egypt. Moreover, the one-sided negative portrayal of Israel turns into open anti-Semitism on several occasions. To cite but one example: Israel is accused of being "fascist" in nature and of carrying out "genocide" against the Palestinians – it is thus equated with National Socialist Germany. Equating Israeli policies with those of the Nazis in this way must be judged as anti-Semitic, for example, according to the definition of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance, which has been adopted by many nations, including some countries of the Global South. Also problematic is the genesis of the work. According to the documenta website, Masao Adachi played a role in entrusting Subversive Film with the film reels. Adachi was a member of the Japanese Red Army and collaborated with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, two groups that carried out terrorist attacks against Israeli and other civilians, including the 1972 Lod Airport massacre where 26 people were murdered. A possible resumption of screenings of the films would only be conceivable if they were contextualized in a way that clarified the propaganda nature of the films, clearly identified their anti-Semitic elements, and corrected historical misrepresentations.


In the view of the Undersigned Members of the Panel, the "Tokyo Reels Film Festival" is the most glaring example of documenta fifteen's bias with regard to the Arab-Israeli conflict which is dealt with by a comparatively large number of works. Almost all these works express attitudes that range from critically biased to decidedly anti-Israeli. These attitudes are reflected in the pictorial representations and statements, which can be judged as anti-Semitic according to commonly accepted criteria. This becomes particularly evident when the existence of Israel is questioned or denied in the works. From this perspective, the Undersigned Members of the Panel consider it necessary to examine the series of works "Guernica Gaza" and documents from the Archives des luttes des femmes en Algérie. The analysis of these and other works – among others by Taring Padi – is still ongoing. More detailed statements will be made available to the shareholders at a later date.


2. At the Level of the Artistic Direction
In the view of the Undersigned Members of the Panel, the described bias of the presented positions on the Arab-Israeli conflict cannot be attributed to the individual artists, but is a consequence of a curatorial concept of the Artistic Direction, which deliberately refrained from control over the compilation and presentation of the exhibition. This in principle welcome dialogical and cooperative approach, however, does not change the overall curatorial responsibility of ruangrupa. The Artistic Direction alone had the opportunity to look at the exhibition from an overall perspective. Even if it may have deliberately refrained from such an overview, it remains responsible for the entire exhibition. As a result, the Artistic Direction is responsible for a documenta in which anti-Semitic works were exhibited and Israel and Israelis appear exclusively as perpetrators and aggressors. The impression of a curatorial imbalance is reinforced by the fact that the exhibition does not give any scope for debate on National Socialism and the Shoah and their consequences, nor to Jewish perspectives on the Middle East conflict, and by the fact that the Artistic Direction has always associated its own political project with the curation. We also find problematic the Artistic Direction's failure to grapple with the anti-Semitic incidents, the criticism of which is discredited as "censorship".


3. At the Level of documenta Organization Also at the level of the documenta organization, the Undersigned Members of the Panel are of the opinion that the procedural processes and communication in response to the discussions are inadequate if not counterproductive. For dealing with problematic works, documenta does not seem to have a procedure in place that goes beyond examining the culpability of an exhibit. The documenta organization does not seem to be set up to mediate in the event of internal or public criticism of the project or the Artistic Direction. The Undersigned find it particularly regrettable that documenta management failed to enter into a sustained dialogue with representatives of the Jewish community in Germany after the events began.


Taking these three levels together, it becomes clear that the serious problems of documenta fifteen exist not only in the presentation of isolated works featuring anti-Semitic imagery and statements, but also in a curatorial and organizational structural environment that allowed an anti-Zionist, anti-Semitic, and anti-Israel sentiment.


Signatories:
Nicole Deitelhoff (Chair)
Julia Bernstein
Marina Chernivsky
Peter Jelavich
Christoph Möllers

25 April 2022

Four documenta fifteen publications with Hatje Cantz as official publishing partner

Together with Hatje Cantz as partner publishing house, documenta fifteen will be presenting four publications in German and English in June 2022: a handbook, a family guide, a magazine, and an Anthology of literary texts. More

Together with Hatje Cantz as partner publishing house, documenta fifteen will be presenting four publications in German and English in June 2022: a handbook, a family guide, a magazine, and an Anthology of literary texts.


The Handbook is a companion to the exhibition, a reference work, and an innovative art guide. It introduces the concept of the exhibition, illuminating central aspects and introducing the protagonists of documenta fifteen. The Family Guide Walking, Finding, Sharing invites visitors to experience in five word-and-image tours the lumbung values of Humor, Local Anchor, Independence, Generosity, and Transparency. The two issues of the magazine majalah lumbung, entitled Harvesting and Sharing, provide a foundation for documenta fifteen in the form of short stories and features by Indonesian authors. Finally, lumbung erzählen (lumbung storytelling) presents seven literary texts by international novelists on collective work and forms of community.


The four publications are centered around documenta fifteen principles – like collectivity, sustainability, and shared resources – not only in terms of content, but also in their production process, appearance, and mode of distribution. Thus, for the Handbook, international authors were invited who are familiar with the respective artistic practice and cultural context of the participants they present. For the anthology lumbung erzählen, seven international publishers have joined forces to make editions in additional languages possible. All four titles are produced sustainably following the guidelines of the “Blue Angel” eco-label and printed on 100% recycled paper with certified ink.


The four publications will be available in bookstores at documenta fifteen in Kassel from June 15, 2022.


More information

2 July 2021

documenta committees decide documenta fifteen takes place as planned in 2022

Artistic Team members at ruruHaus, Kassel, 2021, photo: Nicolas Wefers

At today’s meetings, the Supervisory Board and shareholders of documenta und Museum Fridericianum gGmbH decided that documenta fifteen can take place in Kassel as planned from June 18 to September 25, 2022. The committees reported comprehensively on the feasibility of the exhibition in light of developments regarding the COVID-19 pandemic as well as the infrastructural challenges and variables influencing the realization of the curatorial concept. More

At today’s meetings, the Supervisory Board and shareholders of documenta und Museum Fridericianum gGmbH decided that documenta fifteen can take place in Kassel as planned from June 18 to September 25, 2022. The committees reported comprehensively on the feasibility of the exhibition in light of developments regarding the COVID-19 pandemic as well as the infrastructural challenges and variables influencing the realization of the curatorial concept.


Since spring 2020, the planning of documenta fifteen has been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and has already required numerous adaptations. For example, the worldwide studio visits and working meetings with the Artistic Direction and international artists and groups took place exclusively in the digital space for almost a year and a half. The mutual exchange and site-specific development of projects, which are important to the concept of ruangrupa, were thus rendered more difficult. Nevertheless, planning is progressing, both in terms of the selection of individual exhibition venues and the preparations of artistic positions. Safety and hygiene are a constant consideration—from the choice of sufficiently large indoor and outdoor locations to digital solutions for guiding visitors and supporting the visitor experience. ruangrupa’s curatorial concept, which is based on a comprehensive approach to sustainability, accommodates these developments so that in many respects new things can emerge from the crisis.


The Supervisory Board’s recommendation that the fifteenth edition of documenta takes place as scheduled in 2022 is also supported by the documenta fifteen Finding Committee (documenta Committee), which met in advance of today’s meeting. The Finding Committee emphasizes that the curatorial practice of ruangrupa represents an apt response to the urgencies of our time; it is rooted in life and process-oriented, and therefore has the power to take on moments of uncertainty. The resolution of the shareholders’ meeting is still to be confirmed by a resolution of the municipal council of the City of Kassel.