黑料不打烊

We take a look at this year's sprawling edition of the exhibition, as seen through the lenses of the world's leading curators, gallerists and museum directors

1. Hendrik Folkerts, Curator for Documenta14

Documenta curator Hendrik Folkerts offered a preview of Maria Eichhorn's towering installation Unlawfully acquired books from Jewish ownership. The work is part of a project focused on the books and artworks looted by Nazis, considering issues of owernship and restitution. 

2. Ann Gallagher, Curator of British Art at Tate

Ann Gallagher, Tate's Curator of British Art, shared work by award-winning French filmmaker Romuald Karmakar, whose installation takes over the entire Westpavilion of Kassel's 18th-century Orangerie. Films by the artist consider the collapse of the Byzantine Empire and the Fall of Constantinople — two events that shaped history. 

3. Dea Vanagan, Director of Hauser & Wirth Somerset

Beau Dick hailed from a secluded village on Canada's northwest coast which, due to its isolated position, remained largely untouched by colonial authorities. Known as Gwa'yi to its residents, the region observes traditional ceremonies and modes of governance. Dick, who promoted the rights of Canada's indigenous peoples, became renowned as a master carver, creating works that appear 'alive'. 

4. Adriano Pedrosa, Director Museu de Arte de São Paulo

Artist Ibrahim Mahama swathes buildings in sacks used to transport goods including coffee, rice, beans and charcoal from Asia to his native Ghana. The material is a record of a global journey, as well as a reference to its use in many parts of Western Africa, where jute is repurposed to form anything from curtains to items of clothing. 

5. Iaroslav Volovod, Assistant Curator Garage Museum of Contemporary Art

Much-photographed, The Parthenon of Books by artist Marta Minujín is built from almost 100,000 currently or previously banned books, by authors from around the world. Constructed to replicate the first Parthenon of Athens, the installation is defiant, referencing the ideals of history's first democracy on the same site where the Nazis once burned 2000 books. 

6. Klaus Biesenbach, Director MoMA PS1

7. Jens Hoffmann, Senior Curator at the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit

Maria Hassabi's dancers move in slow contortions, using their bodies to create an ever-changing sequence of angles and curves. Entitled STAGING, the performance is set against an electric fuschia floor, and has had visitors to Kassel stopping in their tracks. 

8. Stuart Comer, Chief Curator of Media and Performance Art at MoMA

Born in Beirut in 1978, Lebanese-Dutch artist Mounira Al Solh is presenting a series of portraits entitled I Strongly Believe in Our Right to be Frivolous. Each is born of the artist's encounters with Middle Eastern and North African migrants who had transitioned, or were in the midst of transitioning, from the status of refugee to citizen. 

9. Polly Staple, Director of Chisenhale

It is hard to miss Banuce cennetoglu's BEINGSAFEISSCARY. Installed on the façade of a building in Kassel's Friedrichsplatz, the work takes inspiration from the graffitied wall of a university in Documenta's sister site, Athens. The artist has borrowed letters from Kassel's Fridericianum, one of the oldest museums in Europe. 

10.  Frances Morris, Director, Tate Modern

Tate Modern Director Frances Morris is one of several prominent institution heads to have shared images of Nisyros (Vivian's bedroom), an installation by Buenos Aires-born artist Vivian Suter. Housed in a glass pavilion, the work features paintings that hang from the ceiling, forming vibrant enclosures. 

For more on auctions, exhibitions, and current trends, visit our Articles Page