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Final Report of the Organizational Development of documenta und Museum Fridericianum gGmbH now available – with a focus on effective measures against anti-Semitism and other forms of group-specific hatred while fully protecting artistic freedom
Download Final Report of the Organizational Development of documenta und Museum Fridericianum gGmbH.
In the wake of the anti-Semitism incidents at documenta 15, the shareholders, the City of Kassel, and the State of Hesse commissioned a review and analysis by an expert team led by Prof. Dr. Nicole Deitelhoff and, based on their final report, initiated a comprehensive, externally supervised organizational development report for the documenta und Museum Fridericianum gGmbH and its committee structures that started in May 2023.The results of the review are now available.
The management consultant Metrum Unternehmensberatung commissioned with this review has made recommendations in its final report – based on around 50 background interviews, workshops, and focus groups as well as various documents. These relate to the governance structure as well as process organization and organizational structure. The aim of the organizational development is to establish effective measures against anti-Semitism and other forms of group-specific hatred while fully protecting artistic freedom, as well as to increase the crisis resilience and future viability of the non-profit documenta und Museum Fridericianum GmbH.
After today’s Supervisory Board meeting, the full final report will be publicly available in German and English.
The key recommendations are as follows:
Retention of the Finding Committee with adjustments (page 22)
There should continue to be a Finding Committee for each documenta exhibition, which is appointed by the Supervisory Board on the proposal of the Management of documenta und Museum Fridericianum gGmbH. This committee should no longer spill over into the governance of the exhibition and the process should be subject to just two optimizations: It should be set out in writing and the Management should commit to ensuring maximum diversity in its remit.Development of two Codes of Conduct for documenta und Museum Fridericianum gGmbH and the Artistic Direction (page 24)
The Code of Conduct of the gGmbH should describe the basic values guiding all actions of the gGmbH. One focus should be to “make it clear that it takes an unambiguous stance against anti-Semitism, racism and other forms of discrimination and will also use its influence to achieve this goal while respecting artistic freedom”. The Code of Conduct of the Artistic Direction should describe the basic values of the Artistic Direction and contain passages that illustrate how it is ensured the exhibition curated by the Artistic Direction does not violate human dignity. Both Codes of Conduct should be treated as declarations of intent on an equal footing and oblige those involved to exchange views on the Codes of Conduct at an early stage in order to identify any differences and, where possible, to address potential conflicts in a productive manner. In accordance with Germany’s constitution or the German Basic Law, this structured approach is intended to take into account the balance between artistic freedom on the one hand and the duty of public cultural administration to avoid discrimination on the other.Optimization of the structure of the Supervisory Board and establishment of a Scientific Advisory Board (page 27)
The main responsibility for supervision is generally assumed by the Supervisory Board, while the Shareholders’ Assembly is generally limited to a few central tasks. Furthermore, the Supervisory Board will be reduced to five to nine members, who (with the exception of two) will be appointed equally by the two shareholders. The Federal Government is given a voting seat on the Supervisory Board and appoints the chair of the Scientific Advisory Board who will also be a member of the Supervisory Board.
The Scientific Advisory Board to be established should comprise six or nine members from the artistic-curatorial field and advise the Management and the Supervisory Board.Clarification of the tasks of the Management Board and Artistic Direction (page 29)
The division of responsibilities between the Management and Artistic Direction should be regulated in a binding set of Rules of Procedure for the Management. Essentially, this division should make it clear that the Management does not take on any curatorial tasks, but bears overall responsibility for strategic, organizational, and financial issues, is responsible for protecting the values formulated in a Code of Conduct of the gGmbH, and represents these in dialogue with the Artistic Direction. If necessary, in extreme cases this can also mean the Management has the responsibility to distance itself from some artistic content without intervening in it itself.Introduction of a Management Board (page 39)
To ensure effective leadership and very good internal communication, in line with the new Organizational Chart, a Management Board for the gGmbH should be established. The Heads and Directors as well as the Management and Artistic Directions should be represented on the Management Board of the gGmbH.
Chairman of the Supervisory Board of documenta und Museum Fridericianum gGmbH and Lord Mayor of the City of Kassel, Sven Schoeller, states: “The events and developments surrounding the emergence of anti-Semitic content, works, and stances at documenta 15 have shown that the organization of the world’s most important exhibition of contemporary art did not have the appropriate instruments, structures, and procedures in place to adequately address the situation. It is of central importance for the future of documenta to regain the trust that has been lost as a result of this and following the resignation of the Finding Committee for the Artistic Direction of documenta 16. The responsible bodies at documenta will therefore take the utmost care to ensure that a clear organizational framework is established for future exhibitions that unequivocally guarantees artistic freedom for the Board of Trustees and artists and, at the same time, implements effective and efficient measures to combat anti-Semitism. The final report on organizational development provides an excellent basis for this. As soon as documenta’s bodies have made a final decision on the recommendations of the Organizational Review, the search process for an Artistic Direction will be restarted. This is planned for the first quarter of 2024”
Deputy Chairwoman of the Supervisory Board and Hessian Minister for Science and Art, Angela Dorn, emphasizes: “As shareholders, we have pledged to learn real lessons from the anti-Semitic misconduct at documenta 15. It has become clear how important it was to undertake a comprehensive and self-critical analysis of responsibilities and structures. With these recommendations, we have created a good basis for safeguarding the unique character of documenta and at the same time for instituting its further structural development. Our main goal is to ensure that anti-Semitic incidents do not happen again. It is essential for the future of documenta that documenta 16 is not overshadowed by documenta 15.”
Managing Director of documenta und Museum Fridericianum gGmbH, Andreas Hoffmann, adds: “Having worked intensively on organizational development from day one of my work for documenta, I am delighted to be able to share the results with the public. Anyone who studies the report will realize that it aims to implement as effective measures against anti-Semitism and other forms of group-specific hatred as it does to ensure that artistic freedom remains unconditionally and fully protected.”
The final report by Metrum Managementberatung GmbH is available in German and English here.
The publication is also accompanied by an opportunity for interested members of the public to comment on the key recommendations. These were presented to the Supervisory Board today for information and have not yet been submitted for resolution. A corresponding platform, accessible via the website www.documenta.de, makes it possible to lodge comments on the five key recommendations for a period of just over one month from Thursday, December 21, 2023 (until January 31, 2024). documenta und Museum Fridericianum gGmbH and its shareholders are interested in considering constructive comments, additions, and suggestions. The final decision on what will be incorporated into the organizational development process lies with the bodies of documenta und Museum Fridericianum gGmbH.