The head of the Anne Frank educational institution, Meron Mendel, will not be active again as a consultant for the world art show after the resignation of Documenta general director Sabine Schormann.
He supports the efforts of Hesse’s Minister of Art Angela Dorn (Greens) to reconvene an anti-Semitism expert committee, but will not be available as a member himself, Mendel said on Thursday. However, the Anne Frank educational center will remain a partner in the design of dialogue offers at Documenta fifteen.
Mendel became involved as an external advisor to the Documenta after a work by the Indonesian artist collective Taring Padi with anti-Semitic motifs was first covered and then dismantled at the world art show.
Since the beginning of the year there had been allegations of anti-Semitism against the curating artist collective Ruangrupa from Indonesia. The announced processing of the scandal was sluggish. Mendel then accused General Manager Schormann of inactivity and withdrew as a consultant.
A good week later, Schormann resigned from her post. Alexander Farenholtz was then appointed as interim managing director.
“I am very pleased that Mr. Farenholtz, an experienced cultural manager, has taken over the interim management, so that after weeks of standstill, there is a noticeable movement in the commitment to dealing with the anti-Semitism scandal,” Mendel explained.
After some delays and bureaucratic hurdles, the pedagogical team of the educational institution will start next week with the information stand announced after the scandal at Friedrichsplatz in Kassel. The aim is to get into conversation with visitors and artists about anti-Semitism and racism in the art and culture industry.
