Of course, OF COURSE they are letting POC women lead the way out of the cultural rabbit hole; the political and moral wasteland that is Germany right now, and curate a diverse show that will ruffle zero centrist feathers, walk the line on the IHRA code of conduct*, and ultimately stay mute on Palestine. Premature? Maybe. But this was my initial reaction to reading this news, and judging from the comments on these threads, I am not the only one. I have edited the press text from Cultured Mag slightly; my alterations are in italics.

Naomi Beckwith, Carla Acevedo-Yates, Romi Crawford, Mayra A. Rodríguez Castro, and Xiaoyu Weng: Say hello to Documenta’s first all-female artistic team. (Do we still need to celebrate firsts for women in 2025? This is the third female curator. This is an editorial cry for help. You know what was really exciting and was censored and disrupted mercilessly? The first Global South art collective curating a show with art collectives. Ruangrupa killed it.)

Back to the press release:

They’re a formidable artistic and intellectual cohort with backgrounds encompassing curation, criticism, and academia across four continents, who are tasked with saying nothing about Palestine; borrowing and burying their brilliant minds and hard-built reputations in a maximum objectification smokescreen effort.

Under the leadership of Beckwith, Documenta 16’s artistic director, they’ll helm the cultural institution’s next exhibition, publications, and programming, and try to powergirlwash the shame of the previous Documenta fiasco, as well as the fact that the mainstream German press and society have completely and utterly lost their freaking minds and we are STILL sending money to Israel. Should they fail to do so, they will be chastised and ostracized sooner than you can say "bratwurst," as their predecessors were.

The Documenta will last from Jun 12, 2027, to September 19, 2027. This milestone comes 30 years after Documenta’s first female (and first non-German-speaking) director, Catherine David, curated the 1997 edition and 70 years after the first Documenta was created to culturewash the Holocaust and allow Nazi war criminals and everyone else who kept their mouths shut, pretty much like you are doing now, to escape accountability and be rehabilitated: A full circle moment. 

But again. Maybe I am proven wrong. Maybe Beckwith and team will Trojan Horse this shit, beat the system from within. Hahaha I am kidding you guys, have a great weekend. 

*On the documenta "code of conduct" 

Documenta adopted the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) working definition of antisemitism in a new code of conduct, effectively stifling criticism against the state of Israel back in February 2025. The new code of conduct, which applies to the entire Documenta organization including employees, exhibitions, and permanent facilities, and is published on their website using some interesting language. 

“Documenta considers the working definition of anti-Semitism of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) and the definition of racism of the UN Convention on Racism to be binding,” the conduct code text reads, adding that organizers “[reserve] the right” to comment and provide visual context around artworks deemed to conflict with said code. With "provide visual context" they must mean cover it up. 

"IHRA serves as a guideline for the conduct expected of documenta and supplements the legal framework of the laws applicable to documenta in the Federal Republic of Germany". You mean the laws that prohibited any other language than German in protests?  "Within three months of their election, the respective Artistic Direction of the documenta exhibition shall present their curatorial concept in a public event, provide information on their position on current developments in the field of contemporary art, and explain how they intend to ensure respect for human dignity while safeguarding the constitutionally protected artistic freedom at the exhibition they curate." That does not sound ominous at all. But it goes on to become darker and more stifling.   

"documenta gGmbH guarantees the freedom of artistic work and activity WITHIN the framework of the laws applicable in Germany." The same laws that have been used to censor artistic expression left and right, cancel exhibitions and symposiums, ban politicians, activists, authors, doctors and thinkers from Germany, and revoking German citizenship to countless immigrants. This is gonna be good. 

from Hyperallergic: Widely criticized for its conflation of antisemitism and anti-Zionism, the IHRA working definition stipulates that antisemitism includes “denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination, e.g., by claiming that the existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavor.” This definition has been scrutinized by humanitarian and civil rights groups for falsely equating legitimate criticism of Israeli policies with prejudice against Jewish people, and for suppressing dissent against the Israeli state in order to negate Palestinian human rights and autonomy.