the following was a critical rant at a panel discussion in the fine arts academy of vienna that for some reason was included in the upcoming publication: "Political Choreographies, Decolonial Theories, Trans* Bodies: About Marginality, Resistance, Technology and Geographies, chapter 7: ruangrupa, post-documenta fifteen, where we stand?" Edited by Marina Gržinić and Jovita Pristovšek in collaboration with Tjaša Kancler and Nomusa Makhubu. Cambridge Scholars Publishing.
My short rant indeed reflects my views of 'what happened at documenta fifteen'.
Denisse Vega de Santiago: I guess I’m just wondering how productive it is to start a discussion about “what happened at documenta fifteen” by talking about “the accusation.” This only risks turning into a morbid conversation fueling the desires of the far right. If we really want to start a critical discussion about “what happened at documenta,” we should start by addressing the immense anti-Palestinian racism and Islamophobic sentiment that was present from the very beginning, well before the exhibition’s opening. We should then talk about all the death threats that Islamic artists received throughout the 100 days, or about the vandalism in the exhibition space of the Palestinian collective The Question of Funding; or about the transphobic incidents in Kassel against some of the lumbung artists. We should talk about how the immense German white guilt has transformed German society, where any criticism of Israel is perceived as antisemitism. Even I was accused of antisemitism by a drunk white man who we had to threw out from Party Office for violating the club’s code of conduct. It’s a pity that suddenly the whole discourse revolves around “the accusations” and no one cares about the great work of ruangrupa. I had the privilege of hanging out in Kassel for almost two months during documenta fifteen as part of this residency, and I witnessed all of the things that Ajeng had previously said: about intending a lumbung aftermath beyond 100 days; the massive public program with so many events taking place simultaneously; cooking together, living together, harvesting processes of learning, the huge network of artist collectives, mostly non-white, that came together in Kassel and are continuing the collaborations that have started. We didn’t even talk about the lumbung Kios project.
My wish for future discussions of “what happened at documenta fifteen” is that it’s not just about antisemitism of a particular painting, which ruangrupa and Taring Padi have already apologized for, but more structural conversations, where we can actually address and contextualize the growing racism in Europe.
1. Denisse Vega de Santiago is one of the fellows from the Art Educators in Residence program, at documenta fifteen. See CAMP notes on education (n.d.).
2. Party Office is an anti-caste, anti-racist, trans*feminist art and social space founded by artist-curator Vidisha-Fadescha in New Delhi, India, which also operates at satellite locations and conceptual architecture.