In a movement of opening for more languages, seeking to reinforce and expand the vision beyond a Eurocentric vision of art, representatives of the Documenta show revealed that the collective ruangrupa, formed by artists from Indonesia, will be responsible for the artistic direction of the 15th edition of the event, which will take place between June 18 and September 25, 2022.

The show takes place every five years and the curatorial command by a collective is an unprecedented event. Founded in 2000 in Jakarta, the ruangrupa will take ten members to curate in Kassel and its purpose is seen in the translation of its name, which means “a space for art” or “a form of space”.

In a statement released by the organization, artist-members Farid Rakun and Ade Darmawan, who represented the group during the curatorial core outreach, declared: “We want to create a globally oriented, cooperative, interdisciplinary art and culture platform that has an impact beyond 100 days of documenta 15”.

The decision to appoint the collective to the curatorship was unanimous, justified as follows by Elvira Dyangani and Philippe Pirotte, members of Documenta's advisory board: ruangrupa because they have demonstrated the ability to reach multiple communities, including groups that go beyond the common art audience, and to foster local engagement and participation. Its curatorial approach is based on an international network of local, community-based arts organizations.”

Representatives of the collective affirm that they will think about the curatorial focus based on “contemporary wounds”, emphasizing the problems caused by colonial, patriarchal or capitalist structures around the world, confronting these models with models based on partnerships, probably in reference mainly to community models. For them, these cooperative ways of working “allow people to have a different view of the world”.


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