The Bundeskunsthalle in Bonn is exhibiting, as part of its exhibition “Wer wir sind. Fragen an ein Einwanderungsland.”, the work of the artist Daniela Ortiz “The ABC of Racist Europe”, which contains Israel-related antisemitism and glorification of terrorism.
We wrote to the management of the Bundeskunsthalle and set out our criticism of the exhibiting of this exhibit at a place that is highly representative of the Federal Republic.
With a positive result: in its second letter of reply to us, the Bundeskunsthalle announced that it would contextualise the work with information panels put up alongside it.
Below are the two letters from our chairman in which we formulated our criticism of Daniela Ortiz’s work, and the second reply from the management of the Bundeskunsthalle in Bonn.
We are pleased that our criticism was taken seriously!Dear Dr Kraus,
we are writing to you today regarding your exhibition “Wer wir sind”. One of the exhibits raises questions for us which we most politely ask you to answer.
Not even a year has passed since documenta fifteen with its partly antisemitic works of art, and already we are confronted with another art exhibition of significance for Germany whose exhibits glorify antisemitic terrorism. In the exhibition “Wer wir sind”, among other things the artwork “ABC of racist Europe” by the artist Daniela Ortiz is displayed on wall panels. One image of this exhibit demands the release of the convicted terrorist Ahmat Sa’adat, the General Secretary of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). The PFLP is a terrorist organisation which is also on the EU terror list – the public display of its symbols is prohibited. The exhibit therefore glorifies terrorism.
Another image advertises a book by the author Houria Bouteldja entitled “Les Blancs, les Juifs et Nous” (German: “Die Weißen, die Juden und Wir”) as “knowledge in the struggle” against “colonialists”. Bouteldja took part – presumably this was the “Marche des Indigènes” in 2008 – in a demonstration at which placards with pictures of the Hamas founder Ahmad Yasin could also be seen. Asked about this, she replied that Yasin was an “anti-colonialist” “who fought against Israeli colonialism” and that “all anti-colonialists are welcome ‘among us'”. Beyond this, she is accused of antisemitism, homophobia and xenophobia. Fittingly, Bouteldja was honoured with a prize for her ideas in 2014 by the London-based organisation with the misleading name “Islamic Human Rights Commission”. The book mentioned is frequently promoted by this organisation and offered for sale in its own bookshop. The so-called “Islamic Human Rights Commission” is known as an offshoot of the inhumane, antisemitic regime in Iran.
The exhibition at the Bundeskunsthalle is meant to address questions of social participation in German immigration society. Against this overall context, the use of Ortiz’s exhibit with its terrorism-glorifying content within this narrative leads to an exclusion of Jews from this collective “we” and marks us as “colonialist enemies”.
The exhibition hall of the Federal Republic of Germany is one of the most visited museums nationwide. Does an exhibition with such representative significance for the Federal Republic really want to convey such messages? Were you and are you aware of the content on display? How do you assess the exhibiting of glorification of the PFLP? Will these exhibits be contextualised and their pictorial symbolism explained to the public in an enlightening way? If so, how?Dear Dr Kraus,
thank you very much for your letter of reply and for sending your media statement of 16 June 2023.
In both letters you assure us that the topic of antisemitism plays a key role in the exhibition “Wer wir sind”. We wonder why this fundamental motivation finds no mention in the official descriptive texts about the exhibition on your website?
You go on to state: “This is to be emphasised against the background of your criticism, because you omit this fact in the accusations you have already published.” We would like to make clear here that to date we have published neither “accusations” nor our letter to you. On the contrary: we wanted first to give you the opportunity to comment on the questions arising from our perspective regarding Daniela Ortiz’s work. That we sent you our letter subject to reservation of publication corresponds to usual practice and applies to this correspondence as well. We therefore reject this claim you have made as untenable.
Regrettably, with regard to the questions mentioned in our letter, the following aspects remained unanswered, which is why we would like to repeat them here: How do you assess the exhibiting of glorification of the PFLP? Against this background: does an exhibition with such representative significance for the Federal Republic really want to convey this message?
Nor do we consider it a valid argument to point out that no “critical objections” have been heard so far, even though the work in question has been “shown in various public institutions in Germany and throughout Europe”. To infer the objectively comprehensible meaning of a work from the absence of a critical (media) response is an inadmissible simplification.
In this connection we welcome the fact that you wish to assess Daniela Ortiz’s work. For this we recommend to you an academic assessor who stands out in her field of research: Dr Julia Bernstein is Professor of Discrimination and Inclusion in Immigration Society at the Frankfurt University of Applied Sciences and was, precisely because of her expertise, part of the panel of experts that produced the report on the objected-to works of documenta fifteen. Against this background we would also like to update the question we asked in our first letter: will the exhibits mentioned be contextualised and their pictorial symbolism explained to the public in an enlightening way? If so, how?Dear Mr Adler,
thank you very much for your letter of reply of 22 June. As announced, we have examined your criticism in depth and would like to thank you once again for your comments. Together with two experts we have examined the work in question in depth against this background and have come to the assessment that it requires a critical commentary. We have now written this and will publish it both in the exhibition and as a press release.
For your information, you will find the wording of the commentary below:
Note
The work The ABC of Racist Europe by Daniela Ortiz has given rise to public criticism. The concern is that this work contains depictions which encourage Israel-related antisemitism. We would therefore like to comment critically on the work against this background.
Picture panel G .
Picture panel G suggests that the State of Israel, together with the British security company G4S, operates prisons in which Palestinian prisoners are tortured. As things currently stand, G4S ended its services for Israeli prisons in 2016. However, the company did not operate the prisons. The core of the service was the supply and maintenance of security systems. This service has not existed since 2016. The accusations of involvement in torture could not be substantiated.
Picture panel I
On picture panel I] a drawn figure named “Handala” appears. This figure by the cartoonist Naji al-Ali (1938—1987) is a striking part of the logo of the pro-Palestinian movement “Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions” (BDS) and a symbol of Palestinian resistance against the Israeli military occupation. It is meant to symbolise a ten-year-old Palestinian refugee boy who – like the cartoonist – had to leave his homeland in 1948. The Handala figure is a typical pictorial element symbolising support for Palestinian causes and for the BDS movement.
Picture panel R
This depiction shows a map of Israel, the West Bank and Gaza as a single Palestinian territory in which the internationally recognised borders of 1967 do not exist. In the context of the work as a whole, it can be concluded that what is depicted here is the demand for a Palestinian state from the River Jordan to the Mediterranean. In this case it is a classic motif of Israel-related antisemitism: the delegitimisation, or the propagating of an extinction, of the State of Israel. On the same picture panel there is a photo of Ahmad Sa’adat, the General Secretary of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), with a call for his release from Israeli prison. The PFLP is on the EU list of terrorists and was significantly involved in aircraft hijackings in the late 1960s and early 1970s, among other things in order to extort the release of prisoners. In 2001 the PFLP claimed responsibility for the murder of the Israeli Tourism Minister Rehavam Ze’evi. Ahmad Sa’adat was thereupon arrested and sentenced to 30 years’ imprisonment as the mastermind.
Picture panel W
On the picture panel for the letter W a reclining, reading person is depicted, as well as a row of books, including the book by the Franco-Algerian activist Houdia Bouteldji Les Blancs, les Juifs et nous (The Whites, the Jews and Us), which is highly controversial not least because of the statements about Israel made in it. The activist herself has repeatedly drawn attention through her anti-Israeli and antisemitic statements.
The Bundeskunsthalle and the exhibition team distance themselves from this and any other form of glorification or trivialisation of violence and from antisemitism.
We thank you once again for your prompting and send kind regards,
