Anka Ptaszkowska Defends Adam Szymczyk's Documenta 14

Anka Ptaszkowska, founder of Galeria Foksal in Warsaw (1966) and a Paris gallery (1972) with Michel Claura and Daniel Buren, writes in artpress to defend Adam Szymczyk, director of Documenta 14, against attacks over budget overruns and alleged mismanagement. She argues the scandal echoes earlier attacks on Harald Szeemann (Documenta 5, 1972) and Pontus Hultén, both criticized for excessive spending on art. Ptaszkowska traces the roots of Documenta 14 to the 1960s-70s critique of art institutions and capitalism, citing the slogan 'Art is not a commodity' and figures like Seth Siegelaub, Dan Graham, Art & Language, and the Foksal gallery's tradition linked to constructivist avant-garde (Henryk Stażewski, friend of Malevich and Mondrian). She claims Szymczyk 'detourned' the institution by splitting the exhibition between Germany and Greece (rich/poor), addressing neo-fascism and the 'kebab murder' of a Turkish restaurateur, and implementing egalitarian structures. Ptaszkowska praises the 'beauty of ideas'—e.g., cancelling Greek debt as a cultural debt—and the final act of distributing censored books from a Parthenon replica. She dismisses accusations of moralism as 'worldly ethics' and asserts that art's real influence on politics has re-emerged for the first time in a century.