The director of a world-famous German art show has quit in a row over an artwork condemned as anti-Semitic.
The Documenta 15 show in Kassel briefly included a mural showing a soldier with a pig’s head and a Star of David.
The mural also depicted a character with fangs, Jewish Orthodox-style sidelocks and a hat labeled “SS”. It was done by an Indonesian art group.
There was an outcry soon after the show opened last month. Director Sabine Schormann has now resigned.
She has apologized for not recognizing the mural’s anti-Semitism. An interim successor is to be appointed, as the art fair runs until 25 September.
The scandal is especially sensitive in Germany because of Nazi Germany’s genocide against the Jews in the 20th Century, known as the Holocaust.
Documenta is held every five years in Kassel, and is regarded as a top showcase for modern art, like the Venice Biennale.
The Documenta supervisory board expressed “profound dismay” that at the opening weekend “clearly anti-Semitic motifs were on display”.
The offending mural was called “People’s Justice”, by the Taring Padi art group. It was covered up and then taken down after the row erupted last month.
The board’s statement said the mural “clearly crossed a line and thereby caused considerable harm to Documenta”.
Credit: BBC.com
