The artist and activist Tania Bruguera’s continuous studying of Hannah Arendt’s The Origins of Totalitarianism at Hamburger Bahnhof in Berlin was halted on Saturday (10 February) after pro-Palestine protestors disrupted the occasion. Bruguera’s 100-hour studying of Arendt’s evaluation of the circumstances that led to the Nazi and Soviet totalitarian regimes, started on 7 February and was as a result of finish on 11 February. She invited artists, activists, members of the general public and extra to participate within the studying, which happened across the clock.
A press release posted on Instagram by Hamburger Bahnhof says: “On 10 February, Hamburger Bahnhof was attacked twice by members of a political activist group who disrupted [Bruguera’s] efficiency [entitled Where Your Ideas Become Civic Actions—100 Hours Reading The Origins of Totalitarianism].”
The assertion provides: “The primary incident occurred between 2pm and 3pm, when the group who had registered to be a part of the studying, took benefit of the efficiency to make use of #HateSpeech. The second incident occurred between 8pm and 9pm, when members of the identical group returned and used violent hate speech in direction of one of many readers and one of many museum administrators.
“In these circumstances, the open dialogue that’s the intent of this efficiency is not doable. This morning, the artist determined to shut the efficiency in standing up towards hate speech and any type of #violence.”
The journalist Mirna Funk mentioned in an Instagram story that “Hamburger Bahnhof was utterly unable for 12 minutes to eliminate a gaggle who brazenly screamed the prohibited phrase, ‘from the river to the ocean, Palestine can be free’… Bruguera tried to inform them how a lot she has completed for Palestinians.”
In Berlin, the usage of the controversial slogan “from the river to the ocean, Palestine can be free” has been criminalised as a result of it’s seen as a type of incitement to hate.
An account often known as Thawra, in the meantime, posted a movie. Within the movie the protestors might be seen shouting “no extra normalisation of Zionism” in entrance of individuals attending the studying. Bruguera is seen remonstrating with the demonstrators, and is requested, “why do you give a platform to Zionists?”
The encounter turns into more and more heated because the demonstrators ask: “The place are the Palestinian voices?”, including that “over 30,000 persons are being murdered”. We contacted the group asking them to reply to the accusation that they used “hate speech”.
Sam Bardaouil and Until Fellrath, the administrators of Hamburger Bahnof, added in an announcement: “We respect and totally stand by the choice of the artist and refuse categorically any type of hate speech and violence. It’s to our deep remorse that we’ve to proceed this manner in an effort to shield the protection of the individuals of the efficiency. We invite folks to mirror upon the implications of not respecting the #TheFreedomofArt.”
In final week’s episode of The Artwork Newspaper’s The Week in Artwork podcast, Bruguera mentioned her Hamburger Bahnhof present earlier than it was shut down.
