Klaus Biesenbach says there is a problem of “political correctness” in the United States

In a long interview this week in German publications published this week der spiegelcurator Klaus Biesenbach talked about his decision to leave the American art world, who now serves as a director of Neue Nationalgalerie in Berlin on that site in Germany.

He seems to attribute the decision to what he calls “political correctness” in the United States, where he served as artistic director of the Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art before leaving in 2021. He coached MOMA PS1 before joining MOCA.

“For years, everything in the museum world has revolved around Dei, as the Americans say [English]He said.

It seems to refer to his work on PS1 and MOCA and then claims to be “one of the first women to show women’s art, or men, or one of the first to show black artists. Because they were great artists for a long time.

He described his experiences during the pandemic and the first Trump administration, saying “becoming a suffering of cultural war.” For example, he mentioned an internal Zoom meeting held after the Minneapolis police murder of George Floyd.

“In one of our zoom meetings,” he told der spiegel“We mourn together. The camera was turned off for 20 minutes as people cried. This has grown into a weekly ceremony. Everyone should talk about the reasons why the discrimination they experienced or social justice is important to them. I would rather not attend; I seem to contribute to the white people I am not suitable for, especially among the directors.

His contribution is his teenage narrative. “I grew up in a small town in Germany. At that time, I spent a summer in Kibbutz, Israel and had an action reconciliation service. [for Peace, a German organization founded to confront the specter of Nazism after World War II]…. After that, I realized that I no longer wanted to be German. A colleague at the museum thanked me for my account. Then she accused me of missing this. ”

Biesenbach continues to have dual American and German citizenship, and he also talks about the resignation of Gary Garrels, senior curator of painting and sculpture at the Museum of Modern Art in San Francisco. Garrels reportedly left his position in 2020 after using “reverse discrimination” to describe the interpretation of white works. “Our co-workers in the United States, including intelligence, have no peeping,” Biesenbach said.

Although he did not directly address it in the interview, Bisenbach won controversy during his brief MOCA tenure, during which two high-profile resignations were held. Senator curator of Mia Locks’ museum resigned, claiming the institution is “not ready to fully embrace” her diversity initiative. The agency’s human resources director also left, claiming to be a “hostile” work environment.

In 2021, the museum restructured its leadership, switching Bisenbach from director to artistic director and named Johanna Burton as executive director. Biesenbach’s defection to Neue Nationalgalerie was announced a week after the restructuring was made public.

Even in Berlin, however, Bissenbach remains a polarizing figure, especially around the opening of the Nan Goldin Show at Neue Nationalgalie last year. Gold read a statement she called Israel’s military operations in Gaza “genocide.” Bisenbach then publicly refuted her speech, and then said in her own words: “There is no doubt about Israel’s right to exist.”

Bisenbach told der spiegel He never tried anything to stop Gold from speaking, but admitted to being “shocked” at the pain that night. “I would never think Nan would be so cold. She would experience this way,” he said. He claimed he later “little talked” to Goldin, known as “high diplomacy” and then told the alleged encounter with her at the Metropolitan Art Museum of Metropolitan Art Museum, where people “cry and hug” his speech, while Golding “sitted there” and didn’t want to.

Some claim that the cancellation of programs and programs by German pro-Palestinian artists is evidence of censorship. Biesenbach also seems to have resolved the allegations: “I have to listen to people in the United States that things are really crazy in Germany. In the 1930s, things would start again, and it was also dangerous to express one’s opinion.”

Biesenbach once polarized for less clear political reasons: he was accused of using museum resources to join prominent figures for performances such as the 2015 Björk Survey of the Museum of Modern Art. He told der spiegel The “shit storm” caused by the show is one of the reasons why he rarely conducts interviews and has recently worked to align with celebrities. “I’ve been practicing for a long time.”