Documenta has announced the new selection committee responsible for finding the next artistic director for the esteemed German quinquennial. This announcement follows the mass resignation of the original committee last year.
The newly appointed six-member committee includes Yilmaz Dziewior, Sergio Edelsztein, N’Goné Fall, Gridthiya Gaweewong, Mami Kataoka, and Yasmil Raymond. With the exception of one, all have curated at least one major biennial. Notably, three members of the new committee (Dziewior, Edelsztein, and Raymond) are based in Germany, unlike the previous committee, which had no members from Germany.
One member of the new selection committee, Sergio Edelsztein, is likely a response to the controversy surrounding Documenta 15 in 2022, when the event was accused of antisemitism. The previous committee also had an Israeli artist, who resigned after the October 7 Hamas attack.
In Germany, Yilmaz Dziewior and Yasmil Raymond are already prominent figures. Dziewior is known for directing the Museum Ludwig in Cologne, while Raymond led both the Portikus museum and the Städelschule art school in Frankfurt until earlier this year. Edelsztein, who divides his time between Berlin and Tel Aviv, was the founding director and chief curator of the Center for Contemporary Art in Tel Aviv.
N’Goné Fall previously served as the editorial director of Revue Noire, a significant journal focused on African art. Gridthiya Gaweewong is the artistic director of the Jim Thompson Art Center in Bangkok, and Mami Kataoka is the director of the Mori Art Museum in Tokyo.
The new committee members are stepping in to replace six others who abruptly resigned last November. Israeli artist Bracha L. Ettinger left following the October 7 Hamas attack, and around the same time, Indian poet Ranjit Hoskote became embroiled in controversy after the German press highlighted a BDS letter he had signed, leading to his resignation.
Subsequently, four other curators—Simon Njami, Gong Yan, Kathrin Rhomberg, and María Inés Rodríguez—resigned, citing concerns over the lack of “an open exchange of ideas and the development of complex and nuanced artistic approaches that documenta artists and curators deserve.“
Additionally, there will be a Scientific Advisory Board composed of experts, and the next artistic director will be required to give a talk about “their understanding of respect for human dignity and how this is to be ensured in the exhibition they are to curate.”
Of the new selection committee, Documenta managing director Andreas Hoffmann said, “I am certain that the expert and multi-perspective make-up of the new Finding Committee will lead to a forward-looking proposal for the Artistic Direction. This lays the foundation for the international art world to once again be a familiar and welcome guest in Kassel.”
