American artist and curator Fareed Armaly has declined Germany’s Käthe Kollwitz Prize, citing the censorship controversies within the country’s cultural institutions.
The annual €12,000 award, given out by the Academy of Arts in Berlin, established in 1992, recognizes established artists for key achievements. Armaly, who was born in the U.S. and is Lebanese-Palestinian, rejected it over what he called a “highly politicized, reactionary shift” in Germany’s cultural policies.
Armaly claims the standards are designed to silence pro-Palestinian views.
Armaly, known for his large-scale projects that often refer to Palestine, said he would have previously accepted the honor but could not do so under current conditions. “At this historical juncture, I am unable to align myself with any institution operating under the cultural policy framework of the German government,” he wrote in a statement to The Artnewspaper on Friday.
His decision comes as Germany faces increasing scrutiny over restrictions across its cultural sector. Since the terrorist attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, and the country’s respondent war in Gaza, German institutions have canceled exhibitions, contracts, and awards over perceived antisemitic or anti-Israel views.
A 2023 German parliamentary declaration further intensified the debate by conditioning public cultural funding on adherence to the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s definition of antisemitism. Critics of the language policy say it is used to conflate criticism of Israel with antisemitism.
(The Academy of Arts responded to Armaly’s rejection by canceling this year’s prize, asserting its commitment to artistic freedom.)
