JETZT! Festival Disinvites Speaker Over His Position on Palestine

In July 2024, I was invited to participate in a discussion on mobility by Melanie Mohren and Bernhard Herbordt, the curators of the biennial art festival NOW! – Spaces for Action between Art and Society (JETZT! – Handlungsräume zwischen Kunst und Gesellschaft). Organized by KulturRegion Stuttgart, the festival takes place from September 21 until October 13, 2024.

On August 16, I received an email on behalf of the curators and the moderator, Michael Turinsky, about some concerns they had, and they invited me to an online meeting. During the meeting, they mentioned that their concerns were coming from my position regarding Palestine and an image with a red triangle they found on my Instagram. They were trying to convince me that when I attend the discussion, I should avoid mentioning Palestine because it might be off-topic, as the focus of the discussion is supposed to be on mobility and movement.

On September 4, I received an email from the curators in which they apologized about canceling their invitation because the managing director decided that they could not "present a position within the festival that is not clearly condemning the violence of Hamas on Oct 7th against Israeli civilians."