Documenta Curator Adam Szymczyk Distances the Organization From Patron Sindika Dokolo, the Target of an International Fraud Investigation

The corruption scandal engulfing husband-and-wife duo
Sindika Dokolo and Isabel dos Santos, two of Africa’s most prominent art collectors, has spilled over
into the west, tainting Documenta, the quinquennial German art
event that Dokolo’s foundation had a heavy hand in supporting
for its 2017 edition.

That year, the foundation pumped €340,000 into Documenta’s
coffers, handing out €20,000 each to 17 artists,
according to the German magazine Kunstforum
International. Dokolo was especially linked to the work of
Nigerian-born artist Olu Oguibe, who installed an obelisk in a
Kassel town square for the exhibition.

But now that Angola has frozen dos Santos’s assets, alleging that
the daughter of the country’s former president and her associates
owe the state more than $1 billion, some are wondering where the
Documenta funds truly came from.

The questions, raised by Elke Buhr, editor-in-chief of the
German art magazine Monopol, come
in the wake of the “Luanda Leaks,” a trove of 715,000 documents
that allegedly detail how Dokolo and dos Santos acquired
businesses with the use of public money. According to reports,
the Angolan state oil company Sonangol, which dos Santos used to
chair, sold Dokolo a stake in the Portuguese oil corporation Galp
worth €750 million for an initial loan-backed payment of only €11
million.

Speaking to Artnet News when the news first broke about the
asset freeze, Dokolo called the allegations a “political vendetta,” and the couple has vowed
to fight what they describe as a politically motivated
campaign.

Speaking to Monopol earlier this week,
Adam Szymczyk, the artistic director of the Documenta’s 2017
edition, said the show’s organizers were unaware of Dokolo’s
potential connections to illicit state money.

“Three years ago, when the Sindika Dokolo Foundation provided
funding for Documenta 14, we were not aware of such potential
problems related to the alleged misconduct of Mr. Dokolo’s wife,”
he said. “Had this been otherwise, we would certainly have given it
the attention it deserved before entering into a partnership with
the sponsor.”

But Buhr, who first reported the connection between
collector and Documenta, says Dokolo’s alleged ties to corruption
were already clear in the lead up to the exhibition.

“The origin of his family’s wealth was already known at the
time,” Buhr writes. “Observers must have always found it unlikely
that the president’s daughter would have been able to earn billions
as a businesswoman in this poor country without taking any
advantage.”

In 2018, Dokolo announced a follow up to the Documenta show that was
meant to feature 16 artists of African descent who participated in
the Kassel exhibition. The show was to be presented at his private
foundation in Luanda, Angola, and was to be organized
by Bonaventure Soh Bejeng Ndikung, a Documenta 14
curator-at-large, but the show never took place.

As of press time, Ndikung did not respond to Artnet News’s
requests for comment.

Over the years, Dokolo has amassed a collection of more than
3,000 works of African art and has been actively working to
repatriate looted art objects to African nations. Last year,
he bought advertising space in New York’s Times Square to promote
his foundation’s restitution efforts.

His foundation has also supported the 1-54 Contemporary African
Art Fair. Representatives for the fair declined to comment for this
story.

Angola’s attorney general says criminal charges against dos Santos are
forthcoming.

The post Documenta Curator Adam Szymczyk Distances the
Organization From Patron Sindika Dokolo, the Target of an
International Fraud Investigation appeared first on artnet
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