Documenta has announced the first all-woman curatorial team for its 16th edition, set to take place in Kassel, Germany, from June 12 to September 19, 2027. Artistic director Naomi Beckwith, deputy director and chief curator of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, selected four curators—Carla Acevedo-Yates, Romi Crawford, Mayra A. Rodríguez Castro, and Xiaoyu Weng—to develop the exhibition, publications, and programming. Each curator brings distinct expertise: Acevedo-Yates focuses on diaspora and cultural production; Crawford on race and American visual culture; Rodríguez Castro on writing and editing; and Weng on globalization, feminism, and decolonization.
This announcement marks a historic milestone for Documenta, one of the world's most influential contemporary art exhibitions, as it will be led entirely by women for the first time. The move signals a significant shift toward gender equity in major art institutions, especially after the 2022 edition was marred by controversy over antisemitic imagery in a work by the Indonesian collective Taring Padi. The new team's diverse backgrounds and thematic focuses suggest an effort to address past criticisms and broaden the exhibition's engagement with global, decolonial, and feminist perspectives.