Re: Dodomenta, Diary from Kassel

[Andreas Broeckmann]

> Subject:  Dodomenta, Diary from Kassel
> From: "Jo van der Spek M2M" 
> Date: Wed, 14 Sep 2022 20:13:25 +0200

Folks, for those interested in a look at the discussions around 
documenta fifteen from outside the lumbung (dare I say, bubble), one way 
to start is this interview (in German) with the chairwoman of the 
scientific committee which is the latest focus of attention:


https://www.deutschlandfunkkultur.de/documenta-debakel-wie-gehen-wir-mit-diskussionsverweigerung-um-dlf-kultur-ed86198f-100.html

Regards,
-a
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Dodomenta, Diary from Kassel

[Jo van der Spek M2M]

[corrected version]

 

Dodomenta

A Kassel diary

 

"We come here as equals. We come here in power, and we come here to put
ourselves in the public domain, with nothing to hide or be ashamed of. We
come here as nothing less than equals, who can humbly learn from each other,
who can help each other, who care about each other, because we know that our
interdependency is the only path toward a more just planetary future."

 

 

https://www.e-flux.com/notes/489580/we-are-angry-we-are-sad-we-are-tired-we-
are-united-letter-from-lumbung-community

 

This statement on the 10th of September '22, signed by 100 collective
artists that acted as   lumbung
artists in   Documenta Fifteen, terminated
Documenta Fifteen a week earlier than planned. Lumbung represents an
artistic and economic model focused on sustaining a continued collective
practice rather than producing collectible art objects.

 

I had the privilege to visit this Documenta in what turned out to be the
last weekend of this episode. I have seen and felt the power, the beauty and
the dynamics as I moved around in the environment called Kassel, in "a
constellation of public spheres" (Okwui Enwezor, 2011) . And I felt tension,
a certain suspense, or rather an absence. 

 

We are angry, we are sad, we are tired, we are united: Letter from lumbung
community 

The title of the last lumbung statement in the context of Documenta, was a
response to the final opinion of a would-be scientific board (scientific
advisory panel, appointed by the Supervisory Board of Documenta gGmbH in
August 2022) that took the liberty of judging the moral value of the whole
thing, including the lumbung way of working and organizing. This opinion was
called for in light of the fierce attacks for being anti-semitic,
anti-Israel and therefore propagating the Palestinian strand of
anti-colonialism.

 

It was the absence of the lumbung artists in the venues that struck me,
together with the lack of interaction between and among the visitors. No
doubt the artists were brooding on their manifesto. And we the visitors were
drifting along, in wonders. What I was looking for, having read about the
attacks on the artists and the dumbness of the Documenta directors, was how
the collective reacted to the German concerns which had effectively
dominated the media reports on Documenta. I missed it in the weekend, but
then it came to me on Monday. 

 

"We know what it means to be discriminated against due to color, ethnicity,
religion, gender, sexuality, origin, caste, and/or disability. We understand
the ways that our different anti-colonial struggles intersect. And that
these struggles are faced in everyday life in society at large. We are
committed to art's role in resisting these broader societal injustices. And
in the context of Documenta Fifteen and the specificities of the German
context we see that the targeting of Palestinian artists is the point at
which our anti-colonial struggles meet, and have become a focal point for
attack. Anti-Muslim, anti-Palestinian racism, anti-queer, transphobia,
anti-Roma, abelism, casteism, anti-black, xenophobia and other forms of
racism are racisms that the German society must deal with in addition to
anti-Semitism."

 

Rather than letting yourself be stifled by this show of German soul
searching. you strike back by reaffirming your fundamental values and
working principles, thereby denouncing your German hosts for censoring your
art, if not your existence.

This institute, Documenta along with its directors, boards, scientists, and
sponsors has demonstrated no more that their impotence of transcending their
own identity complex, missing the chance to decolonize itself. Germany is
still its history. Memory is still guilt. Kassel is still Auschwitz.

 

Having said that, the substance of Documenta Fifteen is much more than an
exposure of contemporary colonialism or the struggles against it. It is also
more than just taking over a Western institution, be it an old church or
Documenta itself. To me, in essence, the lumbung way has resulted in an
attempt to introduce the mostly white western visitors to other value
systems, other forms of social life and other ways of expression. It offered
visitors a chance to be seduced, convinced and embraced by this gathering of
communities and collectives.  

 

"Documenta Fifteen is not a static, curated exhibition that remains the same
throughout the 100 days. Instead, the venues are constantly changing: they
are places in which to meet, discuss, and learn. Exhibition buildings become
living rooms, and together the artists decide how to use each venue. Through
this process, the rooting of artistic practice in daily life is made
tangible. Documenta Fifteen seeks to test alternative approaches to economy,
collectivity, and 

Re: Dodomenta, A Kassel diary

[Brian Holmes]

Jo van der Spek wrote a great text about Documenta 15:

"This institute, Documenta along with its directors, boards, scientists,
and sponsors has demonstrated no more than their impotence of transcending
their own identity complex, missing the chance to decolonize itself.
Germany is still its history. Memory is still guilt. Kassel is still
Auschwitz."

I think a large sector of the German public is being taken for a ride back
to the worst of Cold War cultural repression, courtesy of its most
conservative elements who have always used their support for Israel as a
way to cover their own participation in the post-WWII imperial order. By
systematically conflating resistance to the state of Israel with
anti-Semitism, they turn politics into a hate crime - and then they send in
the police, in the thin disguise of a "scientific committee." I met people
who sincerely believed in this procedure, residents of Kassel who refused
to go to the exhibition. So doing, they blind themselves in a shroud of
legitimacy. In the name of redress for past wrongs they refuse to see that
their own society is founded on domination, that it's unbearable, that the
revolution against it has already happened and the world has already left
empire behind. The same repressive strategy has obviously been applied in
the United States and many other countries over the past seventy years, but
without the systematic conflation of the Israeli state and the Jewish
religion that is now becoming the hallmark of the German culture war
against the present: against immigration, against the breakdown of European
privilege, against the unfolding tragedy of global inequality and climate
change.

The amazing thing, in this context, is that the exhibition happened, in
Kassel and nowhere else. What could be seen at Documenta 15 was also the
best of German openness, experimentalism, self-critique and willingness to
change. Nobody should ever forget how much value that has, how much insight
and courage it took to create that unique art show. German citizens should
become aware of their strengths, resist this paralyzing politics and put
all the best parts of their society to use, in the attempt to decarbonize,
demilitarize and end the current war that the developed world is supporting
and paying for with fossil fuel consumption. It's worthless to build walls.
People will always scale them. The thing is to come together and cooperate
in the face of a very difficult future.

Jo goes on:

"To me, in essence, the lumbung way has resulted in an attempt to introduce
the mostly white western visitors  to other value systems, other forms of
social life  and other ways of expression.  It offered visitors a chance to
be seduced,  convinced and  embraced by  this gathering of communities and
collectives."

What I could see, everywhere in D15, were cultures of resistance. Acts of
art-making linked to ways of surviving together under extremely difficult
circumstances. This was evident throughout the show, in work like that of
the Kurdish video collective who filmed traditional songs, so beautiful
they pierce you like mountain wind. An exhibition with no big galleries and
no art stars allowed you to sense both the predicament and the joy of
people you never met or never even dreamed of. The Roma MoMA was the most
vibrant expression of identity I've ever seen. Mafolofolo, by the South
African group MADEYOULOOK, was a haunting history of a forgotten place told
in topography and music. The Ghetto Biennial staged by Atis Rezistans
opened a doorway into a Haitian experience that's otherwise unimaginable.
The Sada school's [regroup] video on the pathways taken by its fleeing
participants, from Baghdad in 2011-15 to points around the world today, was
a chance to count the everyday human costs of imperial warfare, and to
understand how people rise above and beyond such circumstances, which may
well be coming for all of us. Obviously, big exhibitions are always a kind
of kaleidoscope. But this one revealed planet earth, rather than little
bits of colored glass.

And there's one more thing. All the work felt familiar. Every piece felt
like it was part of the discussions and the struggles that I encounter
every day in the United States. From Standing Rock to the George Floyd
uprising, this kind of art is our contemporary experience. As the country
divides into a clear fascist attack and a confused liberal reaction, we
white western folks on the left take a stand with the most oppressed
people, because it's the human thing to do and it's the only way to save
society for all of its members. In Kassel I found myself wishing we could
have such a perfect art show for our own time in the United States. Well,
there's no chance of that, we do not have the culture and courage and
insight at the state level to do such a thing. But when I got home from my
last trip there was an alternative show in Chicago, the MDW art fair. What
did they do? One cultural center called Co-Prosperity invited six 

Dodomenta, A Kassel diary

[Jo van der Spek M2M]

Dodomenta

A Kassel diary

 

"We come here as equals. We come here in power, and we come here to put
ourselves in the public domain, with nothing to hide or be ashamed of. We
come here as nothing less than equals, who can humbly learn from each other,
who can help each other, who care about each other, because we know that our
interdependency is the only path toward a more just planetary future."

 

https://www.e-flux.com/notes/489580/we-are-angry-we-are-sad-we-are-tired-we-
are-united-letter-from-lumbung-community

 

This statement on the 10th of September '22, signed by 100 collective
artists that acted as    lumbung
artists in   Documenta Fifteen, terminated
Documenta Fifteen a week earlier than planned. Lumbung represents an
artistic and economic model focused on sustaining a continued collective
practice rather than producing collectible art objects.

I had the privilige to visit this Docementa in what turned out to be the
last weekend of this episode. I have seen and felt the power, the beauty and
the dynamics as I  moved around in the environment called Kassel, in "a
constellation of public spheres"  (Okwui Enwezor, 2011) . And I felt
tension, a certain suspense, or rather an absence. 

 

We are angry, we are sad, we are tired, we are united: Letter from lumbung
community 

The title of the last lumbung statement in context of Documenta, was a
response to the final opinion of a would-be scientific board (scientific
advisory panel, appointed by the Supervisory Board of Documenta gGmbH in
August 2022) that took the liberty of judging the moral value of the whole
thing, including the lumbing way of working and organizing. This opinion was
called for in the light of the fierce attacks for being anti-semitic,
ant-Israel and therefore propagating the Palestinian strand of
anti-colonialism.

 

It was the absence of the lumbung artists in the venues that struck me,
together with the lack of interaction between and among the visitors. No
doubt the artists were brooding on their manifesto. And we the visitors were
drifting along, in wonders. What I was looking for, having read about the
attacks on the artists and the dumbness of the Documenta directors, was how
the collective reacted to the German concerns which had effectively
dominated the media reports on Documenta. I missed it in the weekend, but
then it came to me on Monday. 

 

"We know what it means to be discriminated against due to color, ethnicity,
religion, gender, sexuality, origin, caste, and/or disability. We understand
the ways that our different anti-colonial struggles intersect. And that
these struggles are faced in everyday life in society at large. We are
committed to art's role in resisting these broader societal injustices. And
in the context of documenta fifteen and the specificities of the German
context we see that the targeting of Palestinian artists is the point at
which our anti-colonial struggles meet, and have become a focal point for
attack. Anti-Muslim, anti-Palestinian racism, anti-queer, transphobia,
anti-Roma, abelism, casteism, anti-black, xenophobia and other forms of
racisms are racisms that the German society must deal with in addition to
anti-Semitism."

 

Rather than letting yourself be stifled by this show of German soul
searching.  you strike back by reaffirming your fundamental values and
working principles,  thereby denouncing your German host's for censoring
your art, if not your existence.

This institute, Documenta along with its directors, boards, scientists, and
sponsors has demonstrated no more that their impotence of transcending their
own identity complex, missing the chance to decolonize itself. Germany is
still its history. Memory is still guilt. Kassel is still Auschwitz.

 

Having said that, the substance of Documenta Fifteen is much more than an
exposure of contemporary colonialism or the struggles against it. It is also
more than just taking over a Western institution, be it an old church or
Documenata itself. To me, in essence, the lumbung way has resulted in an
attempt to introduce the mostly white western visitors  to other value
systems, other forms of social life  and other ways of expression.  It
offered visitors a chance to be seduced,  convinced and  embraced by  this
gathering of communities and collectives.  

 

"Documenta fifteen is not a static, curated exhibition that remains the same
throughout the 100 days. Instead, the venues are constantly changing: they
are places in which to meet, discuss, and learn. Exhibition buildings become
living rooms, and together the artists decide how to use each venue. Through
this process, the rooting of artistic practice in daily life is made
tangible. documenta fifteen seeks to test alternative approaches to economy,
collectivity, and sustainability th