After the accusations of anti-Semitism against the contemporary art exhibition in Kassel, the Documenta, it is this time the Berlin Photographic Biennale which is under fire from the critics. In question, an installation by Frenchman Jean-Jacques Lebel, around photos of the infamous prison of Abu Ghraib prison, held by the Americans in Iraq.
With our correspondent in Berlin, Nathalie Versieux
It is a photo installation in very large formats. The often excruciating photos show victims of abuse and torture from Abu Ghraib, humiliated by their American jailers, who pose, cigarette in mouth or for a selfie. The installation of Jean-Jacques Lebel is not new. The pictures have been shown many times around the world, for the first time in 2004. So far without controversy.
Iraqi artists protest
In Berlin, it is the commercial side of the presentation that is called into question by three Iraqi artists from the Biennale. They denounce the exhibition, without the consent of the people concerned, of naked and brutalized bodies. After weeks of controversy, the three artists had their own works taken down from the walls of the Biennale at the end of the week. So as not to be exposed next to the photos of Abu Ghraib.
Denounce brutality, even in an artistic way? Do not stage it out of respect for the victims? Germany is used to this old debate around engaged art.
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