Former Art Dubai participants to curate Documenta 2022
Indonesian artists cooperative Ruangrupa will curate the next edition of Documenta, Courtesy of Gudskul Jin Panji
Indonesian art collective, Ruangrupa has been selected as artistic director of the 15th edition of Documenta, set to take place in 2022. The sprawling art exhibition held every five years in the industrial town of Kassel in Germany is a cornerstone of the international art calendar. This is the first time that an artist collective has been nominated to curate the event and the first time that its curatorial leadership has come from Asia.
Ruangrupa is a non-profit artist-run initiative that was established in 2000 by a group of artists in Jakarta (Indonesia) to support the progress of contemporary artistic ideas and the broadening scope of culture within the urban context, through exhibitions, festivals, workshops, research projects, and the publishing of journals. In 2011, the collective took part in Art Dubai during which they presented Mini OK-Video Festival video works that collated highlights from this biennial event that they launched in 2003, and which has become an important event in the South East Asian art scene.
Commenting for Ruangrupa – an Indonesian word that loosely translates as ‘a space for art’ or ‘a space form’ – members Farid Rakun and Ade Darmawan said they would be taking a participatory approach for Documenta 15: “We want to create a globally oriented, cooperative, interdisciplinary art and culture platform that will have an impact beyond the 100 days of Documenta 15.”
They added: “Our curatorial approach aims at a different community-oriented model of resource usage – economical, but also taking ideas, knowledge, programs and innovations into account. If Documenta was launched in 1955 to heal war wounds, why shouldn’t we focus Documenta 15 on today’s injuries, especially ones rooted in colonialism, capitalism, or patriarchal structures, and contrast them with partnership-based models that enable people to have a different view of the world.”
The 15th edition of Documenta will run from June 18 to September 25, 2022.