BCB faculty Marion Detjen publishes think piece in ZEIT Online and e-flux

Marion Detjen published the essay “Was ist das für eine Wissenschaft?” (What Kind of Science Is This?) on September 23rd. The essay appears in both ZEIT Online in German and e-flux in English and responds to the events of the documenta 15 festival from which  several Palestinian films from the 1960s-80s were removed following allegations of antisemitism. Detjen’s article asks provocative, urgent questions about the relationship between academia and policy, considering both the expertise of specialists and the input of the general public.

The decision to remove the films from the festival was made by a small panel of five members, an action that was quickly criticized by festival-goers and the shareholders of documenta. Supporters of the decision maintain that the issue was so urgent that expert input needed to override traditional legal processes concerning film censorship; detractors believe it led to the loss of trust between festival organizers and the artists and audiences that populate the festival. Detjen’s article asks when this type of policy-making by academics is acceptable.

As she writes, academic authority is an important part of civic life, as exemplified by the role that scientists and doctors played in creating COVID-19 guidelines outside of traditional legislative channels. Expert decisions may not be wholly apolitical, but they are motivated by a desire to help the public rather than to advance a specific agenda. To Detjen, the documenta 15 decision was an overreach, not for declaring the films to be antisemitic, but for deciding that the films could not be showcased at all, even as complex historical documents that were made in a different context. 

Detjen cautions against the use of academic credentials to advance specific political agendas, especially when academic opinion can commandeer a popular vote or public forum. She writes,“The state of research must be taken into account, the knowledge of others must be consulted, the criticism of colleagues must not only be endured, but solicited, actively sought, for in the end it is exclusively colleagues who, under the conditions of freedom of research and teaching, determine what is science and what is not.”

Detjen’s essay has entered an international, multilingual conversation surrounding these questions, advancing our understanding of democracy, contemporary art, and the role of academia.

Post Date: 10-12-2022