Germany is skipping the exhibition of Marisa Merz (Maria Luisa Truccato; Turin, 1926 - 2019), a leading exponent of Arte Povera, that was scheduled to open this fall at the Fridericianum in Kassel, one of the country’s most important exhibition venues and the “home” of Documenta. The reason? A disagreement between the organization and the museum over the definition of "anti-Semitism." This was revealed by Beatrice Merz, daughter of Marisa and her husband Mario Merz as well as president of the Merz Foundation in Turin, who explained the reasons for not holding the exhibition to the German magazine Monopol in an interview.
In particular, the Code of Conduct of Documenta and the Fridericianum in Kassel, recently introduced following the controversy that erupted around the last edition of Documenta, which was engulfed by accusations of anti-Semitism, refers to the definition of “anti-Semitism” formulated by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA), which reads: “Anti-Semitism is a certain perception of Jews, which may be expressed as hatred of Jews. Rhetorical and physical manifestations of anti-Semitism are directed toward Jewish or non-Jewish individuals and/or their property, Jewish community institutions, and religious structures.” This definition, however, has been and still is dedicated because it also lends itself to classifying protests against the actions of the Israeli government as anti-Semitic.
“Collaborating with the Museum Fridericianum would have meant accepting the museum’s Code of Conduct, which uses the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s (IHRA) definition of anti-Semitism, a definition I do not agree with completely,” said Beatrice Merz. “In my opinion, it would have been more appropriate to use the Jerusalem Declaration on Antisemitism (JDA). For this reason, as president of the Merz Foundation, I felt it was right to cancel the exhibition project. I am convinced that art should have no boundaries and, above all, should be free of prejudice.” For the JDA, the definition is: “Anti-Semitism is discrimination, prejudice, hostility or violence against Jews as Jews (or against Jewish institutions as Jews).”
The museum confirmed the version: “Talks with the Merz Foundation,” said Andreas Hoffmann, managing director of the museum’s managing body, “revealed that the planned framework for the exhibition with works by Marisa Merz was not entirely compatible. We respect the Merz Foundation’s decision not to go ahead with the exhibition.” Hoffmann also emphasized that the Code of Conduct is binding for the organization’s employees, but not for external parties: according to the chairman, in fact, “artistic freedom applies without restriction to curatorial work. Documenta gGmbH guarantees artistic freedom within the framework of the laws applicable in Germany. Should Documenta consider artistic expressions to be incompatible with the principles laid down in this Code of Conduct, it reserves the right to comment on its position and, if necessary, to explain it in the immediate visual context of the works on display.”
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| Germany, skips Marisa Merz exhibition: disagreement over definition of anti-Semitism |
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