German photo biennial cancelled after curator’s posts are deemed antisemitic

Left to right: Tanzim Wahab, Shahidul Alam and Munem Wasif Photo: © Lys Y. Seng
The Biennale für aktuelle Fotografie, a contemporary photo exhibition which was due to be held in the German cities of Mannheim, Ludwigshafen and Heidelberg, in March 2024, has been cancelled after one of the curators posted content on social media that the cities’ authorities described as antisemitic.
Facebook posts since 7 October by Shahidul Alam, a Bangladeshi photo journalist, include “content that can be read as antisemitic and antisemitic content,” the organisers of the event said in a statement. This includes a comparison of the current war in Gaza with the Holocaust and accusations of genocide by the state of Israel against the Palestinian population of Gaza, the organisers said.
The three cities said their “relationship of trust” with Alam “has been severely damaged.” The organisers said they sought direct talks with Alam and the two other curators, Tanzim Wahab and Munem Wasif, and discussed the Facebook posts “in order to sensitise the curators to Germany’s special historical responsibility for the state of Israel and its right to exist.” Alam, who “sees himself as an activist and demands freedom of expression,” continued to post similar content after these discussions, they said.
Wahab and Wasif said they did not want to continue working on the biennial without him, the statement said.
“The consequences of the cancellation for the Biennale für aktuelle Fotografie and the organising team are far-reaching,” the organisers said. “They jeopardise the future of the entire event. In the time ahead, we will do everything in our power to maintain the Biennale as one of the largest and most important photography events in Germany and Europe in the long term.”
The Biennale für aktuelle Fotografie is organised by the three German cities that host it. The 2024 edition, which would have been the tenth, was the first with three non-European curators. It was also the last to be sponsored by the German chemicals company BASF, which said earlier this year it was ending its commitment, casting doubt on the future of the event.
Disputes between artists and organisers have led to a number of disruptions to German exhibition plans since the Hamas terror attacks in Israel on 7 October and the subsequent Israeli attack on Gaza. Plans for the next edition of Documenta, the vast contemporary art show that takes place in Kassel every five years, are in disarray after the finding committee responsible for selecting the next artistic director resigned en masse.
Four of the panel members said in their resignation letter that they did not see “appropriate conditions” for “diverse perspectives, perceptions and discourses” after the forced withdrawal of their fellow panel member, Ranjit Hoskoté. Hoskoté left the panel amid pressure from German media and the government over a statement he had signed in 2019 that they viewed as antisemitic.
In a Facebook post, Alam said the letter “called out” Germany’s “blinkered position on freedom of expression.”
On 7 October Hamas terrorists crossed into Israel on a murderous rampage, killing more than 1,200 people and taking around 220 hostages. The Israeli military responded to these atrocities with a declaration of war against Hamas, launching airstrikes and placing Gaza under siege. According to the Hamas-run health ministry, more than 12,300 Palestinians have been killed—most of them civilians.

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