Respect for Jewish Culture and History

"1700 Years of Jewish Life in Germany" – an anniversary that in 2021 was not only a celebration but also a mandate. A mandate to make history visible and to live out responsibility. My video installation Grünanlage (Green Area) emerged in this spirit: a tribute to language, literature, and the multifaceted history of Jewish culture. The work comprises sixteen videos projected onto seven broad walls of the Museum Ludwig – a visual tapestry woven from archival material, literary quotes, and poetic fragments that renders the complexity of Jewish experiences in Germany tangibly.

The exhibition Grünanlage (Green Area) at the Museum Ludwig was a collaboration with the Cologne-based Germania Judaica library. 1,700 books of Jewish literature – a symbolic act of respect – were part of the installation. When the Museum Ludwig acquired the work, the books could not be taken into the museum's possession because they were on loan from the Germania Judaica. For me, it was clear: the idea behind it could not vanish. Thus, I drafted a contract that replaces the books – not with objects, but with commitment.

The final report of the independent working group addressing the 2022 documenta fifteen controversy served as both a wake-up call and a catalyst for action. As a Jewish artist, I recognized the urgency to not only demand institutional accountability but to actively shape it. I wrote to museum director Yilmaz Dziewior: "The silence of key players shakes my trust. I am considering repurchasing my work – for it represents not just me, but a past that must never be forgotten." From this dialogue with the museum emerged the concrete formulation of the contract – a process demonstrating how institutional responsibility takes shape not through confrontation, but through shared reflection.

This contract is not an appendix but an integral part of the installation itself. It hangs visibly beside the projections, a document with precise clauses: The museum commits to always display the work in a spirit of dignity – free from discrimination or trivialization of history (§1, §2). It must conduct antisemitism trainings, vet all accompanying texts, and even monitor social media comments (§3). If the work is loaned, the contract travels with it, binding the borrowing institution as well (§5). Should the museum violate these terms, I retain the right to remove the installation immediately (§6). Thus, the contract is both a legally binding document and a conceptual statement – an ethical architecture that transforms passive viewers into co-responsible parties.

Antisemitism is a poison that divides communities. The contract reminds us: every silence, every careless word, every minimization has consequences. Not just for the Jewish community, but for all of us. The contract is more than a set of rules – it is a manifesto. A manifesto declaring: art must not stay silent in the face of injustice. It must take a stand, especially in museums, which are meant to be spaces of reflection.

Visitors encounter not only projections but a document that poses questions: How do we engage with history? How do we exhibit it? The installation is not a conclusion but a process – a call to acknowledge the voices of the invisible books, the contradictions of the present, and the responsibility of visibility. Art that remains silent is complicity. Here, silence is replaced by contractual terms – and action becomes an obligation.

In a world clamoring for simple answers, Grünanlage (Green Area) signals the necessity of complexity. It reminds us: history is never linear, art is never neutral. And responsibility? It lies with all of us – as institutions, as artists, as a society. A just future does not arise by chance. It emerges when we protect diversity, listen, and above all: act.