On 29 October, documenta announced the expansion of the curatorial team for its 16th edition. Raven Chacon takes on the role of “Curator-at-Large”; Osei Bonsu, Timea Junghaus and Noam Segal will join as curatorial advisers. They will work with artistic director Naomi Beckwith and the core team introduced in 2025. The exhibition is scheduled to run from 12 June to 19 September 2027 in Kassel.
These appointments amount to more than a list of new names: they expand the group helping to shape the artistic direction of one of the world’s most prominent contemporary art exhibitions. Yet the announcement offers only a partial indication of how much decision-making power the new roles carry. documenta says the entire team will jointly shape the programme and artistic vision. It does not specify individual portfolios, formally assigned responsibilities or decision-making procedures.
Four profiles, not four predetermined themes
The newcomers’ professional experience spans a range of fields. Chacon is a composer, performer and installation artist; in 2022, he became the first Indigenous artist to receive the Pulitzer Prize for Music. Bonsu works as a curator and art historian at Tate Modern, focusing, among other areas, on art from Africa and the African diaspora. Junghaus is an art historian and curator; she was the founding director of the European Roma Institute for Arts and Culture in Berlin. Segal works as a curator and researcher at the intersection of contemporary art, technology and society.
These biographical details describe expertise, but do not yet constitute an exhibition programme. Chacon’s work in music does not automatically mean he will be given a music portfolio; nor does Junghaus’s longstanding work on Roma art establish a specific theme for the exhibition. Such conclusions would be premature. The announcement presents these diverse geographical, disciplinary and intellectual perspectives as a collective strength, but does not assign them individually to particular tasks.
Advice and responsibility
The titles initially signal a distinction: Chacon is listed as “Curator-at-Large”, Bonsu, Junghaus and Segal as “Curatorial Advisors”. The terms suggest different kinds of contribution, but in themselves define neither decision-making rights nor accountability. Whether the advisers will develop their own projects, support particular areas of work or primarily contribute ideas to the shared conception is not explained in greater detail in the public announcement. The scope of the “Curator-at-Large” role likewise remains undefined.
This matters because documenta’s artistic direction is not being entrusted to a collective this time. Beckwith was appointed artistic director in December 2024. In August 2025, she introduced the core team of Carla Acevedo-Yates, Romi Crawford, Mayra A. Rodríguez Castro and Xiaoyu Weng; at the time, it was stated that the group would jointly develop the exhibition, publications and programme. The new announcement expands this structure, but does not explain whether or how the internal allocation of tasks or responsibilities will change.
A shared framework – and open questions
As its conceptual framework, documenta cites strategies of improvisation: these are intended to help navigate uncertainty and explore the opportunities and risks of contemporary technologies. This is a thematic orientation, not a finished programme. The announcement of the expanded team did not reveal which artists will participate or how the framework will take shape in exhibitions and events.
The distinction between shared curatorial work and clear accountability is not merely an administrative matter. When several people contribute to an exhibition, it becomes important for those outside the organisation to know who develops proposals, who makes decisions and who represents those decisions publicly. Particularly for an edition whose announcement explicitly emphasises collaboration, a more precise explanation of the roles would be a next step. Until then, the position is this: documenta has broadened its perspectives and announced a collaborative approach to developing the programme; how individual responsibilities will be allocated remains unclear.
Documenta 16 is scheduled to take place from 12 June to 19 September 2027 in Kassel.
Original reviewed by the editors · 4 November 2026
