{"id":5137,"date":"2018-06-18T06:00:47","date_gmt":"2018-06-18T06:00:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.glokal.org\/i-was-a-stranger-and-you-took-me-in-stop-the-displacement-of-the-obelisk\/"},"modified":"2018-06-18T06:00:47","modified_gmt":"2018-06-18T06:00:47","slug":"i-was-a-stranger-and-you-took-me-in-stop-the-displacement-of-the-obelisk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.glokal.org\/en\/i-was-a-stranger-and-you-took-me-in-stop-the-displacement-of-the-obelisk\/","title":{"rendered":"“I was a stranger and You took me in” – Stop the displacement of the obelisk!"},"content":{"rendered":"

In Kassel and throughout Germany, initiatives (including glokal) and individuals are protesting against the attempt to move the artwork of documenta 14 artist Olu Oguibe from the central K\u00f6nigsplatz in Kassel, thus robbing it of a central dimension of its significance. The protest can be supported here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

We call for recognizing the work of the artwork on K\u00f6nigsplatz: that is, understanding how it most successfully makes visible the rise of racist, anti-Semitic, anti-Muslim discourses. At the same time, the quadrilingual nature of the work invites multilingual arguments. This formulates a hopeful vision in which people of different origins live together peacefully.<\/p>\n

“I’m staying here!”<\/p>\n

The obelisk by Nigerian\/US documenta 14 artist Olu Oguibe has stood on K\u00f6nigsplatz in Kassel since June 2017 – it was specially designed for this central public space in the city. Inscribed on the sculptural object, in gold letters and in English, German, Turkish and Arabic, is the phrase: “I was a stranger and you took me in.” Oguibe, who was awarded the prestigious Arnold Bode Prize in Kassel in July 2017, calls the obelisk a “call to action,” referring to the plight of people in the diaspora who have been forced to flee due to war, famine and globalized economic-political grievances.<\/p>\n

However, since the end of the documenta 14 exhibition, the artwork has been the target of numerous, often racially tinged controversies. At first it was heard from the Kassel City Council that the crowdfunding campaign to buy the obelisk had not generated enough money to purchase the artwork, whereupon it was discussed whether it was therefore at all ‘ethical’ and ‘necessary’ to keep the obelisk in Kassel. Despite the insufficient income from donations, gallery owner Olu Oguibes is willing to sell Oguibe’s artwork to the city for the available amount.<\/p>\n

In the course of this negotiation process, we witnessed an enormous lack of professionalism on the part of the Kassel city administration and the city’s cultural office, as well as the political parties represented in the city government. We also observed how the artist was made to legitimize the site-specificity of his work in order to resist the arguments of those of the local politicians who tried by all means to remove the obelisk from K\u00f6nigsplatz and transfer it to Holl\u00e4ndischer Platz, a heavily migrant site. Clearly, they want to push him out of the center. This denies that the addressees of the monument are those who inhabit the center and not the migrant population. The obelisk represents the call of the periphery (migrants, people of color, diasporas) to the center (majority society), which is represented by K\u00f6nigsplatz. Thus, the location is central to the meaning of the artwork.<\/p>\n

We demand that the citizens of Kassel treat female artists with respect. We demand that the city’s professional cultural workers and politicians deal with art in a way that meets the standards of the international art and culture scene. We demand from all thinking people to welcome artistic, social and political actions that counteract the structural marginalization of African and Black artists in Germany!
\nJustification<\/p>\n

Most postcolonial documenta = most controversial documenta – no coincidence!<\/p>\n

The controversies surrounding the whereabouts of the obelisk on K\u00f6nigsplatz culminate the defamations that accompany documenta 14 due to its postcolonial and critical focus on racism. documenta 14 addressed European colonialisms and racisms, it addressed the role of global elites and national politicians within financial and migration crises, and it emphasized the protagonism of Black, decolonial, anti-racist, and queer-feminist perspectives.<\/p>\n

She thus created a platform on which art and popular politics collided and provoked each other. Despite great recognition in the art world, documenta 14 met with hostility and resistance from some local political actors. AfD politician Thomas Materner, for example, called the obelisk “ideologically polarized, distorted art.” Increasing racism is thus the context of the fight against the obelisk, and so it is no coincidence that it is precisely the anti-racist work of a Black artist that is being targeted.<\/p>\n

Racism is the problem. But city politics has a democratic mandate. We therefore call on them to refrain from any complicity with racist tendencies and to fulfill their mandate to contribute to a democratic and peaceful coexistence.<\/p>\n

Advocate to leave the obelisk at its location K\u00f6nigsplatz!<\/p>\n

For Kassel as part of a society that opens itself locally, nationwide, transnationally to the diversity of the world!<\/p>\n

For Kassel as a city that welcomes critical attitudes!<\/p>\n

Initial signatories:<\/p>\n

Prof. Dr. Encarnaci\u00f3n Guti\u00e9rrez Rodr\u00edguez, Giessen, Board of Directors of Fachgesellschaft f\u00fcr rassismuskritische, postkoloniale und dekoloniale Forschung und Praxis (DeKolonial e.V.).<\/p>\n

Prof. Dr. Iman Attia, Berlin, Board of DeKolonial e.V.<\/p>\n

Prof. Dr. Manuela Boatc\u0103, Freiburg, Board of DeKolonial e.V.<\/p>\n

Dr. Mariam Popal, Bayreuth, Board of DeKolonial e.V.<\/p>\n

Dr. Noa Ha, Dresden, Board of DeKolonial e.V.<\/p>\n

Dr. P\u0131nar Tuzcu, Kassel, Board of Directors DeKolonial e.V.<\/p>\n

Prof. Dr Sergio Costa, Berlin, Board of DeKolonial e.V.<\/p>\n

Dr. Vannessa Thompson, Frankfurt a.M., Board of DeKolonial e.V.<\/p>\n

Murat \u00c7akir, Kassel, Managing Director RLS-Hessen<\/p>\n

Violetta Bock, Kassel, City Councillor Kassel Left Party<\/p>\n

Mirko D\u00fcsterdieck, Kassel, City Councillor Kassel Left Party<\/p>\n

Lutz Getzschmann, Kassel, City Councillor Kassel Left Party<\/p>\n

Stephanie Schury, Kassel, City Councillor Kassel Left Party<\/p>\n

Ilker Seng\u00fcl, Kassel, City Councillor Kassel Left Party<\/p>\n

Marlis Wilde-Stockmeyer, Kassel, City Councilor Kassel Left Party<\/p>\n

Tamim Mohammed, Kassel, independent entrepreneur<\/p>\n

Serdar Kazak, Kassel, screenwriter<\/p>\n

Ralf Gentzsch, Kassel, Self-employed entrepreneur, Kassel<\/p>\n

Yi\u011fitcan Y\u0131lmaz, Kassel, Student<\/p>\n

Ute Brinner, Kassel, Educator<\/p>\n

Ceren T\u00fcrkmen, Berlin, Sociologist, Institute of Sociology, Justus Liebig University<\/p>\n

Women’s group Loose Threads, Kassel, working housewives and mothers<\/p>\n

Each One Teach One e.V., Berlin<\/p>\n

SAVVY Contemporary e.V., Berlin<\/p>\n

No Humboldt 21! Alliance, Berlin<\/p>\n

Inititative Black People in Germany \/ ISD e.V., Berlin<\/p>\n

Berlin Postkolonial e.V., Berlin<\/p>\n

AfricAvenir International e.V., Berlin<\/p>\n

AFROTAK TV CyberNomads, Berlin<\/p>\n

glokal e.V., Berlin<\/p>\n

kassel postcolonial<\/p>\n

Yaseen Mohammed, Kassel, resident physician<\/p>\n

Daniel Bendix, Kassel\/Berlin<\/p>\n

Authors: C\u00e9line Barry – Each One Teach One e.V; Dr. P\u0131nar Tuzcu, Board DeKolonial e.V, Ay\u015fe G\u00fcle\u00e7 – kassel postkolonial<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In Kassel and throughout Germany, initiatives (including glokal) and individuals are protesting against the attempt to move the artwork of documenta 14 artist Olu Oguibe from the central K\u00f6nigsplatz in Kassel, thus robbing it of a central dimension of its significance. The protest can be supported here.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"give_campaign_id":0,"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[173],"tags":[251,219,186],"class_list":["post-5137","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-antiracism","tag-art","tag-migration-en"],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":false,"thumbnail":false,"medium":false,"medium_large":false,"large":false,"1536x1536":false,"2048x2048":false,"post-thumbnail":false},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"glokal","author_link":"https:\/\/www.glokal.org\/en\/author\/carolin\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"In Kassel and throughout Germany, initiatives (including glokal) and individuals are protesting against the attempt to move the artwork of documenta 14 artist Olu Oguibe from the central K\u00f6nigsplatz in Kassel, thus robbing it of a central dimension of its significance. The protest can be supported here.","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.glokal.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5137","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.glokal.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.glokal.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.glokal.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.glokal.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5137"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.glokal.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5137\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.glokal.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5137"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.glokal.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5137"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.glokal.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5137"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}