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Haberler
July 18, 2013
Provocative German artist Jonathan Meese has to answer in court for imitating a Hitler salute. German law makes exceptions for artistic freedom, but was Meese’s gesture really art?
“Art and science, research and teaching shall be free,” according to Paragraph 3 of Article 5 of the German constitution. But how far does this freedom extend? That must be negotiated on Thursday in the District Court of Kassel where German artist Jonathan Meese is standing trial. The state prosecutor has accused him of raising his arm twice to make a so-called Hitler salute in public.
The salutes were made at the event, “Megalomania in the Art World,” which was organized by the German news magazine, Der Spiegel, in Kassel in early June. Meese had been invited as an expert on both art and megalomania. During the public discussion, he advocated nothing less than the “dictatorship of art.”
A painter, sculptor and performance artist, Meese is viewed as one of the most provocative figures of Germany’s contemporary art scene.
Artistic gray area
“The use of symbols of unconstitutional organizations” – and the Hitler salute is unquestionably one of them – is an offense under German criminal law. Those found guilty of the offense, which is regulated under Section 86a of the Criminal Code, face punishment ranging from a fine to imprisonment for up to three years. However, the scope of the law has been restricted with a paragraph stating that such behavior is not punishable if it involves art.
The judge, then, will have to decide whether the art clause applies in this case, or whether Meese is still liable to prosecution. Meese told Der Spiegel magazine, “Of course, I am innocent. What I do on stage and in the name of art is protected by the artistic freedom clause in the German constitution.”
But where is the line between art and crime?
Anyone who invites Jonathan Meese to a public event, or chooses to be a spectator at such an event, must be prepared not to experience the person he is, but to experience the outspoken artistic persona he has created for himself.
Friend of scandal
The incident in Kassel was not the first time that Meese had publicly made a Hitler salute. Once asked if he could stand at attention in front of a painting by Gerhard Richter, he replied he certainly could “stand up straight in front of horny stuff” and added, after repeating the Hitler salute twice, “It’s good, it opens up the body. It’s not this measly inward movement.”
This conversation from 2012 remains documented online and available for anyone to access. The web video is also a subject of court negotiations.
