“People have a right to protest and express their opinions,” the curator told Die Zeit, revealing that some artists have declined to participate in the exhibition over “Germany’s position on the Gaza war.”
With less than a year until Documenta 16 opens in Kassel, Germany, artistic director Naomi Beckwith said in a recent interview that some artists declined to participate in the exhibition over “Germany’s position on the Gaza war” and concerns about artistic freedom in the country.
Speaking to the German newspaper Die Zeit, Beckwith declined to answer directly when asked about her personal stance on Gaza, stating that the more important question was “how we can overcome this divisive mindset,” and “how can we start talking to one another again?”
“I understand the need for solidarity and support, but we’re not going to get anywhere with entrenched sides,” Beckwith explained when prompted.
Early last year, the exhibition’s organization adopted the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s (IHRA) working definition of antisemitism, which is widely criticized for its conflation of anti-Zionism with antisemitism.
Documenta incorporated IHRA’s definition after its particularly controversial 15th edition in 2022, curated by the Indonesian art collective ruangrupa. The collective and several other advisors and artist participants — including Palestinian collective The Question of Funding — were accused of antisemitism in a fringe Zionist blog post that was cited by various German media outlets reporting on the matter ahead of the exhibition’s opening.
Estudio EA