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CULTURE

Top German art show director quits in anti-Semitism row

The director general of Documenta, one of the world's biggest art fairs, was forced to resign on Saturday following outrage over anti-Semitic exhibits upon opening in Germany last month.

Traffic sign for documenta city Kassel in Germany
A traffic city name sign of the documenta-city Kassel, in Kassel, central Germany. Documenta 15 takes place at 32 exhibition and event venues in Kassel from June 18 to September 25, 2022. (Photo by Anton Roland LAUB / AFP)

Documenta, which every five years turns the sleepy German city of Kassel into the centre of the art world, features more than 1,500 participants and for the first time since its launch in 1955, had been curated by a collective,
Indonesia’s Ruangrupa.

But on Saturday its supervisory board expressed “profound dismay” about “clearly anti-Semitic” content after the fair opened in June, saying an agreement had been reached with director general Sabine Schormann to “terminate (her) contract.”

An interim director would be appointed, a statement added.

Two days after the show opened to the public, one of the works on display by Indonesian art group Taring Padi came under fire over depictions that both the German government and Jewish groups say went too far.

On the offending mural is the depiction of a pig wearing a helmet blazoned “Mossad”.

On the same work, a man is depicted with sidelocks often associated with Orthodox Jews, fangs and bloodshot eyes, and wearing a black hat with the SS-insignia.

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The work was covered up after Jewish leaders and Israel’s embassy to Germany voiced “disgust”, but the row cast a deep shadow over an event now into its 15th edition.

Germany’s Culture Minister Claudia Roth backed Schormann’s departure and demanded an investigation into how anti-Semitic work was admitted in the first place.

‘Lost of trust’
“The necessary conclusions must be drawn,” Roth was quoted as saying by the Frankfurter Rundschau daily.

Documenta’s supervisory board promised a full investigation, conceding that “a lot of trust has unfortunately been lost” and pledging to prevent other “anti-Semitic incidents”.

But Remko Leemhuis, director of the American Jewish Committee Berlin, accused Documenta of not going far enough and of having “still not understood the problem”.

Quoted by Bild daily, Leemhuis was especially critical of the board’s reference to “accusations of anti-Semitism” since the pieces were, he said, clearly “anti-Semitic”.

The contemporary art event had been clouded in controversy for months over its inclusion of a Palestinian artists’ group strongly critical of the Israeli occupation.

Ruangrupa came under fire for including The Question of Funding collective over its links to the BDS boycott Israel movement.

BDS was branded anti-Semitic by the German parliament in 2019 and barred from receiving federal funds. Around half of Documenta’s 42-million-euro (dollar) budget comes from public funds.

Kassel was home to a vast forced labour camp during World War II and was heavily bombed by the Allies. Documenta aimed to put Germany back on the cultural map after the Nazis’ campaign to crush the avant-garde.

The fair, which runs until September 25, now ranks with the Biennale in Venice among the world’s premier showcases of contemporary art.

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CULTURE

Barbaras Rhabarberbar: How a German tongue-twister became an unlikely viral hit

A tongue-twisting German rap about rhubarb has become the latest unlikely musical hit to storm the internet, racking up millions of views and inspiring a viral dance routine.

Barbaras Rhabarberbar: How a German tongue-twister became an unlikely viral hit

The song by musical comedian Bodo Wartke was first posted on YouTube in December 2023, but took off earlier this year thanks to a dance video made by two Australian students.

In May, the track briefly reached number 12 in the TikTok music charts, ahead of US R&B superstar Beyonce.

The charm lies in the song’s tongue-twisting title, “Barbaras Rhabarberbar” (Barbara’s Rhubarb Bar) — a bit like the German equivalent of “She sells sea shells”.

The song tells the story of Barbara, a woman famous for her rhubarb cakes who decides to open a bar in her village.

As the song goes on, Barbara is joined by an ever-growing cast of people whose names add to the tongue-twister — such as barbarians and barbers.

Wartke, 47, teamed up with German content creator Marti Fischer to make the video, the two men taking turns at the microphone to recite the tricky lyrics.

47 million views

Wartke is delighted with the unexpected success of the song, though he admits he doesn’t actually like rhubarb very much, “except when it’s made into a crumble or jam with strawberries”.

“Even in our wildest dreams, we could never have imagined such success,” said Wartke, who has been performing as a cabaret artist in Germany, Austria and Switzerland for 27 years.

“Barbara’s Rhubarb Bar” has racked up more than 47 million views on TikTok and has been translated into several languages.

It has also inspired all manner of copycat dance videos, including underwater, on ice skates and on rollerblades.

Wartke, who performs comic songs on the piano, once wanted to be a German teacher and has a penchant for a linguistic challenge.

He has recorded several other songs based on tongue-twisters, such as “Fischers Fritz fischt frische Fische” (“Fisherman Fritz catches fresh fish”).

“Until now, I always thought I was talking to a German audience. I thought you had to understand the meaning to appreciate it,” said Wartke, who grew up in northern Germany but now lives in Berlin.

“But apparently this kind of alliteration combined with hip-hop has an appeal beyond the meaning of the words,” he said.

READ ALSO: 8 German tongue-twisters to leave your mouth in knots 

Image problem 

Wartke hopes the song will do something positive for the image of the German language around the world.

“Lots of people think that Germans have no sense of humour, don’t know how to have fun and that German is an aggressive language,” he said.

“Now they’re reconsidering their prejudices, which I am delighted about. People write to me saying that our song has made them want to learn our language.”

As if to dispel any last perceptions that Germans are serious and boring, Wartke and Fischer have posted a video of themselves doing the dance, with Wartke wearing a pink suit.

“Dancing is not our speciality at all, we had to do a lot of practising,” he said.

Buoyed by their success, the duo are thinking of taking a Barbara-based comedy routine on tour to non-German-speaking countries.

“The songs would remain in German but we would present them in English,” Wartke said.

There has even been talk of the Eurovision Song Contest — and with Germany having finished in last place in 2022 and 2023, Barbara could only raise the bar.

By Céline LE PRIOUX

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