Documenta 15 takes place every five years in Kassel, Germany and is one of the highest-profile contemporary art exhibitions in the world - so why was this year’s edition so controversial? Two days after the 100-day show opened to the public, one of the works on display came under fire that featured anti-Semitic caricatures of Jewish people. While the large-scale outdoor mural was removed, the scandal surrounding it lingers. Many are questioning how the work ever made it on view.

Taring Padi’s piece People’s Justice (2002) made its way around social media almost as soon as it went up, resulting in a wide-scale outcry. Germany’s culture minister, Claudia Roth, called for its immediate removal, writing, “I’ll say it again: human dignity, protection against anti-Semitism, racism and misanthropy are the foundations of our coexistence and this is where artistic freedom finds its limits.”

After removing the mural, Documenta posted a statement saying, “the truth of the matter is that we collectively failed to spot the figure in the work, which is a character that evokes classical stereotypes and antisemitism.” But the controversies began long before the opening of the show. Starting in January, accusations of anti-semitism have plagued Documenta 15, due to the anti-Zionist stance of a number of exhibiting artists.

Since mid-July, just one artist, Hito Seyerl, has pulled out of the show, saying that she had “no faith in the organisation’s ability to mediate and translate complexity.” On the same day Meron Mendel, head of the Anne Frank Educational Institute in Frankfurt and advisor to Documenta 15, cut ties with the exhibition. Following the removal of Taring Padi’s piece, the head of Documenta 15 “mutually agreed” with the board to leave her post.

Image from DW