According to a report by the “Jüdische Allgemeine”, the allegations of anti-Semitism at the Kassel Documenta prompted Chancellor Olaf Scholz to forgo visiting the art exhibition. A government spokeswoman told the weekly newspaper that the SPD politician had “probably not missed a documenta in the past 30 years”, but would not be traveling to Kassel this time.
The reason is anti-Jewish images on a work by the Indonesian artist group Taring Padi that has since been dismantled. According to the report, the Chancellor finds this representation “disgusting” in the words of the spokeswoman. It was “completely right and appropriate” to remove the mural. In his opinion, “there is no place in Germany for anti-Semitic depictions, not even at an art exhibition”.
