How the Documenta Fifteen went wrong

As curators at Documenta Fifteen, the Indonesian collective Ruangrupa wanted to champion community and tolerance. But its "People's Justice" banner, featuring anti-Semitic stereotypes, caused an outcry. After two days, the work was taken down. That wasn't the end of it. Further examples of anti-Semitism were found in the featured artworks at the Documenta, including Palestinian propaganda films. Documenta's reputation suffered immensely. All 1500 participating artists felt implicated, and saddened that the scandal overshadowed the exhibition's original vision of a mutually supportive art scene, independent of the market. Documenta could have become a festival of cultures that redrew the map of the art world. Instead, it ended in irreconcilable differences. We talked to artists and organizers and asked where Documenta Fifteen went wrong.

00:00 Intro
00:54 The idea behind Documenta 15
04:25 The anti-Semitism scandal
14:46 The artists and the collectives
27:05 Success or failure?


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