Curatorial concept In 2019, it was announced that ruangrupa would serve as artistic director for
documenta fifteen collectively, the first time an Asian group or an art collective would curate the large-scale, international exhibition, particularly from the
Global South. The curatorial concept prepared by ruangrupa for documenta fifteen centres upon the notion of
lumbung, a
rice barn that stores the communally-produced common resource of rice for future use. The curatorial approach involved the invitation of an international network of localised, community-based art organisations, including groups such as
Black Quantum Futurism,
Nha San Collective, and
Asia Art Archive. Despite factual inaccuracies in the blog post, major German and Israeli media outlets picked up on and circulated accusations of
antisemitism. Refuting the claims, ruangrupa attempted opening up dialogue by organizing the forum "We Need to Talk! Art, Freedom and Solidarity," a series of talks meant to take place across 8, 15, and 22 May 2022 to address the "fundamental right of artistic freedom in the face of antisemitism,
racism and
Islamophobia." On 4 May 2022, the forum was cancelled after
Josef Schuster, president of the
Central Council of Jews in Germany, addressed the event in a letter to
Claudia Roth, Germany’s state minister for culture and media, leading ruangrupa and several panellists to believe that free and productive discussion would not be possible. In April 2022, multiple anti-Muslim stickers were found outside the ruruHaus exhibition venue with slogans like “Freedom Not Islam!” "No Compromise with Barbarism!" and "Fight Islam Consistently!" On 27 May 2022, a month before the opening, The Question of Funding's exhibition venue in Kassel was broken into and vandalized, which ruangrupa filed a criminal complaint for. Phrases such as "PERALTA" were spray-painted on walls, an alleged reference to Isabel Medina Peralta, the leader of a
Spanish far-right youth group who previously faced charges for inciting violence against Muslims. On 2 June 2022, artists and organizers involved with documenta fifteen issued a statement of support for ruangrupa, stating that the collective was erroneously accused of antisemitism. Days after the 18 June 2022 opening of documenta fifteen, a mural titled ''People's Justice'' (2002) by the Indonesian group
Taring Padi came under intense controversy over what the German and Israeli governments condemned as antisemitic imagery, and the mural was subsequently covered up and taken down, sparking major political, artistic, and social debates in Germany. Originally collaboratively created in
Yogyakarta, Indonesia in 2002, the mural illustrates Indonesian politics as a battle of the people against oppressors, capitalists, and polluters. The mural is a critique of
Suharto's
military dictatorship and the complex power relationships that sustained it, with a section depicting the involvement of the government of
Israel through the use of
Jewish caricatures. Jörg Sperling, chairman of the Documenta-Forum, criticized the removal of the mural, identifying the work's connection to the broader historical context of the
Israel-Palestine conflict, later stepping down from his chairman position. Sabine Schormann, general director of the documenta fifteen, later announced her resignation after initial resistance to stepping down. By August 2022, a "scientific advisory panel" was appointed by the Supervisory Board of Documenta to review artworks in documenta fifteen on the basis of antisemitism, despite vigorous opposition from ruangrupa, who spoke out against the censorship of artworks. After the preliminary findings of the advisory panel argued that Documenta "allowed an
anti-Zionist, anti-Semitic and anti-Israeli mood to prevail," an open letter titled "We are angry, we are sad, we are tired, we are united," was published on 10 September 2022, co-signed by ruangrupa and 65 participating artists from documenta fifteen. Scrutiny continues to be placed upon ruangrupa, with the investigation findings released in January 2023 claiming that documenta fifteen "served as an
echo chamber for
Israel-related antisemitism and sometimes pure antisemitism." By 17 November 2023, amidst the escalating
conflict in Israel and Palestine, the entire Documenta 16 selection committee collectively resigned after accusations of antisemitism for committee members' support of the BDS movement. In their resignation letter, they state: == Publications ==