Artists
Biennial
Germany
Documenta sparks “censorship” row
The German artist Gregor Schneider says organisers of the exhibition have blocked a work he planned to install in Karlskirche church, Kassel
By Gareth Harris and Julia Michalska. From Art Basel daily edition
Published online: 12 June 2012
The German artist Gregor Schneider says that the organisers of Documenta have “censored” a work he planned to install in the Karlskirche church in Kassel, home of the quinquennial exhibition (until 16 September). Schneider says that It’s all Rheydt Kolkata, Kassel 2012, consisting of material dredged from the river Ganges in northern India, was withdrawn after Bernd Leifeld, the managing director of Documenta, intervened.
Schneider was given €70,000 by the Protestant Academy of Hofgeismar to make the piece. The Art Newspaper understands that Leifeld expressed concerns that visitors could mistake the
installation for a Documenta project, and that any mix-up could have damaged the reputation of the prestigious German exhibition. Representatives of the academy declined to comment.
A spokeswoman for Documenta says that Leifeld “heard some time ago that the church was planning an exhibition during Documenta, though no one was aware which artist the church had in mind. After consulting the church, [its officials] decided to concentrate on seminars and lectures [instead].”
Meanwhile, the German sculptor Stephan Balkenhol has installed an outsized human figure with outstretched arms in the bell tower of a Catholic church in Kassel despite opposition from Documenta’s management. He reportedly accuses Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev of “curtailing” cultural events in Kassel, but the exhibition’s artistic director says that she “would never [censor art]”. The German artist Siglinde Kallnbach has launched a campaign in support of Balkenhol and Schneider.
For an opening report on Documenta and more news from the exhibition, download our free daily fair edition
Submit a comment
All comments are moderated. If you would like your comment to be approved, please use your real name, not a pseudonym. We ask for your email address in case we wish to contact you - it will not be
made public and we do not use it for any other purpose.
Want to write a longer comment to this article? Email letters@theartnewspaper.com