There is a global movement towards authoritarian, patriarchal ideologies that are misogynistic, queerphobic, xenophobic and, last but not least, antisemitic. This involves resorting to strange, ideologically charged, twisted narratives that ignore differentiations, contradictions and historical events – fuelled by algorithms in favour of closed worldviews. This happens not only in authoritarian states, dictatorships and kleptocracies (see Russia), but also – disguised as social movements – in neoliberal democracies. The tolerance of ambiguity called for by Nathan Sznaider, i.e. the recognition and endurance of contradictions, has largely been lost in the process. We would therefore like to leave the camp debates in art and culture behind us and present intellectual, intercultural artistic and curatorial positions in Berlin in a series of panels, and subsequently publish them in a special issue of OnCurating in order to influence a local debate and give it international weight.

With this issue, we want to look for some missing links in the history of cultural developments and hopefully show historical developments and contradictions, removed from the simplifying theory in which right- and left-wing tendencies are seen as being similar. One has to look into the historical connections and alliances carefully. Of course we cannot and will not delve into a history of the Middle East, for example; that would be way too much for a magazine dedicated to art and curating. In the arts, unfortunately, instead of a debate, we encounter various incidents such as when a group of people disrupted the reading of Hannah Arendt at the Hamburger Bahnhof: Where Your Ideas Become Civic Actions (100 Hours Reading “The Origins of Totalitarianism”) with shouting, spitting, and other violent interruptions.[1] Speaking from a Swiss and German background, the intensified antisemitic wave is deeply disturbing, and it shows once again that the arts can become an ideological battlefield with different centres, in which certain things can be said and done and others cannot. (Sexuality, for example, is a very sensitive topic in some areas of the world where antisemitic or anti-Zionist utterings are not.) Nevertheless, we wanted to look into counter-movements to fascism and right-wing movements – both historical and contemporary ones.

Reading of Hannah Arendt by Tania Bruguera, Where Your Ideas Become Civic Actions (100 Hours Reading “The Origins of Totalitarianism”), Hamburger Bahnhof, Berlin, before the disruption.

In contrast to narrow, ideologically driven views, we want to offer a kaleidoscope of different voices – artistic, curatorial, and cultural. And keep in mind, what we offer here is also spoken from certain perspectives, mainly from Europe, with its historical responsibility for the biggest and unprecedented crime against humanity: the Holocaust. We also included voices from Africa, the US and the Middle East. To answer this right away, we absolutely think that all groups in the Middle East should have the right to live in peace and in a truly democratic political situation, and not be threatened by genocidal actions, which includes not being used as shields for terrorist acts.[2]

But we must point out that representational democracies are also struggling with many problems, as neoliberalism makes the economic conditions for many austere (the 99%). The line between authoritarian, neoliberal democracy and dictatorships and kleptocracy seems to be blurring. Nevertheless, as long as different legislative institutions exist, and as long as negotiations and demonstrations are still possible in democratic states, there is hope. Where it is possible to demonstrate without being threatened with torture and death. The old Marxist division between so-called imperialist states and the states based on Marxist traditions has eroded, as Indian feminist Kavita Krishnan argues. Britta Petersen, director of the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation’s South Asia Regional Office in Delhi, summarises: “Krishnan accuses her comrades of supporting authoritarian regimes by uncritically advocating multipolarity. In a defining article from December 2022, she stated that ‘All streams of the Left in India and globally have for long advocated for a multipolar world as opposed to a unipolar one dominated by the imperialist USA.’ Yet at the same time, multipolarity is a ‘rallying cry for despots, that serves to dress up their war on democracy as a war on imperialism’”.[3]

This issue also comes with a lot of historical and recent information in order to open up new perspectives, especially for young people who are sure to support suppressed people, something we can relate to. Nevertheless, we wanted to begin with contemporary art and curating, include personal accounts and artworks related to personal stories, migration and diaspora, in-between some related historical perspectives.

To come back to the recent debates in the arts, what often surprises us tremendously is what people don’t know about racism, about historic events and about the history of the Israel/Palestine/Middle East conflict; yet they still think they have to hold an outward-facing opinion. Often it is necessary to start with the context one is familiar with, to look into fascism that is/was developed close by. We therefore included an interview with the politician and cultural theorist Jutta Ditfurth. She was a co-founder of the Green Party in Germany (which she left in protest against the realo wing), she is a feminist, and she still argues for a profound redistribution of wealth. As a politician, she met spokespersons like Yasser Arafat. Because she comes from a noble family with roots in the Middle Ages, Ditfurth also researched how the concept of race was used to establish and maintain violent structural and economic advantages, and how this continues to play a role today.

One of the forgotten histories about the fight against fascism is described by the artist and art historian Dagim Abebe in relation to the work Unveil by artist Wendimagegn Belete. This reinterprets history through a fresh lens, disrupting conventional narratives and challenging established perspectives. Exhibited at the 15th Gwangju Biennale – framed around PANSORI: A Soundscape of the 21st Century, which explores polyphony, resistance and the reconfiguration of historical narratives – Belete’s work disrupts the silence surrounding Ethiopia’s defiant stand against fascism, especially against the fascist Italian army, amplifying voices often left unheard in global memory.

We also show and discuss the work of Ruth Patir, who has developed the latest Israeli pavilion, curated by Mira Lapidot and Tamar Margalit, at the Venice Biennale; her work actually developed from a first itinerary at the OnCurating Project Space in Zurich, then curated by Maayan Sheleff[4]. The only part of the work that was visible in Venice was the mourning march of ancient, female-connotated figurines through Tel Aviv. Patir wanted to open the show only when a ceasefire was achieved and the hostages were released, which did not happen during the time of the exhibition in Venice. This project is now discussed and shown in this issue; it has many facets, one of which is a feminist perspective on the reproduction industry, which objectifies women and transforms reproduction as a service for sale. The ancient figurines have a very funny quality despite the difficult topics they address, and therefore seem to have an old, female wisdom hidden in the bodies of ancient women from the region.

The contemporary voices we are keen to present in this issue are manifold – for example Artists at Risk (Marita Muukkonen and Ivor Stodolsky), who, with the support of institutions and courageous individuals, manage to get artists out of threatening and dangerous circumstances and living conditions. They speak in an interview with Jonny Bix Bongers about how they developed these strong networks of concrete support, which are shown in exhibitions and on websites.

Fabienne Dubs and Jana Kurth write about a project by Maria Eichhorn that is related to European fascism. For example, they reflect on an earlier work in which she examined the Lenbachhaus’s collection for paintings with unclear provenance, and staged an exhibition based on her findings. Furthermore, Eichhorn’s contribution to the Venice Biennale investigated the historical changes in the architecture, as well as sites of known resistance against fascism in Venice.

In this issue, we also wanted to cultivate a future-oriented outlook on how to address such challenges of historical pasts and the present in artistic and curatorial work. This entails adopting a progressive and universalist stance, despite the current circumstances. How can this be effectively formulated in a positive manner? How can this be achieved at an international level?

Klaus Theweleit, a founding figure of research into toxic masculinity, has assessed letters written by soldiers in the Freicorps and the German Army in the 1920s and 1930s, and shows how they developed a social-psychological state that allowed crimes against humanity. The feeling of internal threat and fear was projected onto groups identified as ‘others’: political opponents conceived as red masses, ‘aggressive’ women, Jews, queers, Sinti and Roma. Theweleit addresses the difference between terrorism and violence supported by states or state-like organisations and individual perpetrators. In the case of Hamas’s attack on the left-wing, peace-loving kibbutzim, he sees the handling of the media, including live streams of the most horrific atrocities, as a new dimension. The interview was part of a seminar project at the postgraduate program in curating; the many individuals involved in this project are represented here by the interview partners Maria Sorensen and Dorothee Richter.

Michaela Melián, who also has a contribution in this issue, has previously reflected on the secret connection between the RAF (German Red Army Faction) and old Nazi fascists. In Issue 7 of OnCurating, we presented her work Triangel; here, she speaks about a project that deals with hidden histories. This work reacted to the fact that Gudrun Ensslin and her partner Bernward Vesper published works by Vesper’s reactionary and fascist father.[5] Melián’s contribution, entitled ‘Red Threads’, focuses on her exhibition at Kindl, Berlin, where she presented her work TANIA. Tania is the fighting name of Tamara Bunke, who was born in 1937 to a German-Jewish family in exile in Chile. The family moved to the GDR and Tamara studied at Humboldt University. In the 1960s, she left for Cuba, where she joined the guerrilla struggle led by Che Guevara in Bolivia and was shot dead in 1967. The major themes of the twentieth century come together in her life story: National Socialism/fascism, migration and exile, socialist modernity, emancipation and the post-colonial struggle for liberation. To this day, however, Tamara Bunke’s biography can only be pieced together on the basis of many stories and unreliable documents.

Artist and curator Daniel Laufer writes about projects by Ariel Reichman and Nir Evron/Omer Krieger. Their works are now subject to a double viewing: in their film Rehearsing the Spectacle of Spectres, Nir Evron and Omer Krieger show the peaceful atmosphere of one of the kibbutzim that were later attacked. Clearly ecologically minded people and peace activists were living here in a small utopia with shared cars and a shared dining hall, and were closely engaged in fighting for equal rights for Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. In retrospect, one cannot see these images without also imagining destruction and brutal violence.

Ariel Reichman uses the phrase “I am (not) safe” to signal the emotional and political state of the individual in our public realm. His sign can be activated online and is shown on the facade of museums in Germany and Israel. This sentence has regained its relevance. Synagogues are once again becoming targets of attacks; conspiracy ideologies are causing perpetrators to reverse victimisation; and there is reason to suspect that a cross-front has established itself since the coronavirus pandemic. At the same time, Muslims are under general suspicion, which is unjustified as Muslims are not at all a homogeneous group; even Palestinians are not. About 20% of Israel’s population is Muslim with full legal rights; some even choose to be part of the IDF. (All this is, of course, ignored by simpler minds. It should be added that anyone interested in the Middle East conflict is exposed to algorithmically disseminated propaganda, which makes it hard to understand the situation.)

In the contribution “‘We Want to Live’ – On Hamza Howidy’s Activism”, the journalist Ulrich Gutmair describes the courageous and outstanding work of the Palestinian journalist and activist Hamza Howidy. Howidy had participated twice in the ‘We Want to Live’ protests against Hamas in Gaza, was arrested twice and tortured by Hamas henchmen.[6] Arriving in Europe after he left Gaza, Howidy was threatened in the first migration camp.

Howidy’s Instagram posts analyses the historical background of Hamas’s long and destructive rule in Gaza. Howidy is fighting for a free, democratically governed Palestinian state. Free from Israeli occupation, and liberated from the influence of Iran and Qatar. But first, the people of Gaza must be saved from starvation. Howidy draws his readers’ attention to the catastrophic humanitarian situation and demands support for the civilians.[7]

As curatorial perspectives on difficult issues, we present several projects including Curating on Shaky Grounds: Curating in Times of Crisis and Conflict. This was a series of workshops and a symposium, curated by Elena Levi, Ronald Kolb, Dorothee Richter, Rotem Ruff, Maayan Sheleff and Hillit Zwick, and hosted by Kunst-Werke Berlin in 2021. We have identified the pandemic as an amplifier of paranoid conspiracy theories. The crisis mode that it engendered as a disruption in an aesthetic-political constellation – one that severely curtails movement and momentum – unleashes paranoia and morphs the ways in which we may act, perform, and perceive the world around us. In addition to more traditional lectures, the diverse workshops encouraged all visitors to become active participants. As curators working with contemporary artists internationally, how can we stimulate a renewed understanding of the world during these moments of crisis, as the ground beneath us is shaking?

Fascism should be investigated above all where it manifests itself nearby. How can difficult contexts be realised as exhibitions? Curator Inke Arns shows a differentiated and instructive project in which she delineates right-wing practices using the digital sphere. How can artists engage with the alt-right without running the risk of giving a platform to ideas associated with this toxic (sub)culture? Inke Arns’ contribution asserts that if we refuse to examine and learn from the groups we confront, we will not be able to read their message. Silence is not an option; however, if we engage in reading and learning, we must ensure that we stay on our side of the fine line, even at the risk of repeating and exposing toxic content. She refers to the exhibition she curated, The Alt-Right Complex (2019) – the first of its kind in Germany. The artists in the exhibition rendered hidden alt-right networks – such as the right-wing meme culture of 4chan – visible by taking a closer look at the visual tactics of the alt-right and mapping and analysing the alt-right online (sub)culture. The aim of the project was to present a vision of the impact of the alt-right’s visual and ideological architecture to a wider audience, in order to open up spaces and possibilities for critique and resistance.

Simon Strick’s research was one of the foundations of this project.[8] Strick analyses the affective strategies of right-wing actors. Numerous analyses show how they make feelings of danger for white men popular and connectable: this fascism speaks the language of the risk society and effectively manipulates democratic public spheres. In the recent developments, he sees ‘fascho-spheres’ emerging that appear forcefully in Western societies with their misogynistic, anti-feminist and anti-queer narratives.

Stories about diaspora are the foundation of other research endeavours, personal narratives and artworks. The well-known, internationally published author Doron Rabinovici lets us take part in his life’s journey, in which the element of displacement and delocation prevails. Having been born in Israel and brought to Austria by his parents, he now (after the 7th of October and the subsequent antisemitic outbursts) feels even more estranged and alienated. His story is personal and touching, but it is also a universal story about a diasporic situation.

It is important to break away from contemporary cultural ‘debates’, or rather their substitute, the gamified insult-slinging on social media. Individuals are constantly interpellated to act and think by policing (controlling and condemning) others. This structure resembles a policing, bureaucratic or juridical debate, with the sole focus on policing, limiting, judging and administering others, identifying and punishing transgressions, violations, and so on. We believe it would be beneficial to make it more prominent on the international stage to formulate in a positive way – as a shared understanding – what a radical democracy means: accepting diversity, accepting the rights of queer people, accepting the rights of women, accepting all skin colours and cultural backgrounds. We believe this is precisely what is occurring: there are many younger individuals who recognise that this polarisation and fragmentation cannot continue indefinitely, and that a path towards common understanding must be found.

In this issue, Oliver Marchart explains how simplistic complexity prevents people from taking a clear position – a position that would be well argued and based on facts, able to think dialectically and see contradictions, without denial, nor just ambivalence. In his view, the recognition and endurance of contradictions should be achieved, and art has the means to show this. Meanwhile, Nora Sternfeld discusses different views presented by Michael Rothberg and Dan Diner. Rothberg proposes an approach of multi-directionality of memory and argues in favour of a productive interaction between different historical memories. Diner insists on concrete archaeologies that focus on what actually happened, which might stay as a contradiction. Sternfeld argues for agonistic contact zones, in which the aim is to argue in favour of historical work in shared/divided spaces of remembrance that see themselves as both participatory and reflexive, as well as taking a stance against antisemitism – one that insists on being both anti-fascist and anti-racist.

Curator Sergio Edelsztein, who lives between Berlin and Tel Aviv, questions the way art is used in the current political discourse. On the one hand, he argues for artworks that gain momentum through their powerful and convincing visual qualities, less on foregrounded political messages. On the other, he speculates that the protest against perceived censorship (the demand to not utter antisemitic statements) from the state in Germany ultimately helped to defund the art scene. Consequently, the art field has become a proxy battleground for other interests, resulting in the marginalisation of art unless it reflects an escalation in the culture wars. This incurs a significant cost: unless art is policing of some sort, (controlling and condemning), it becomes irrelevant. However, the essence of art lies in its ability to communicate in languages other than the codified ones. While these languages may not necessarily be more peaceful or inherently positive, their distinctiveness serves as laboratories for formal experimentation.

But let us look for common ground, for moments of solidarity and courage, beyond identity politics. We want to strengthen the personal agency aspect of the political struggles, in moments when real courage is required. There were very few Germans or people from other occupied fascist countries who opposed National Socialism, who hid people, made passports, or joined the resistance movements. One of these stories is told by artist Leon Kahane with his film Vom Ich zum Wir – From I to We. Kahane’s grandfather and grandmother were persecuted as Jews; nevertheless, his grandfather fought in Spain against the dictatorship of Franco. He was arrested and the label under which he was imprisoned changed – first he was labelled a combatant, then a German and then a Jew. Both grandparents survived and became part of the elite who built up the GDR after the war, partly ignoring the growing antisemitism there.

In recent months, it has become evident that some parts of the global art scene do not perceive the Hamas massacres as a significant terrorist issue – rather the opposite. However, we have also observed that there are numerous individuals who do recognise the situation, having fled Islamist rule from countries such as Iran, the exiled Iranians often demonstrating with pro-Israel activists. Of course people like DJane and author Hengameh Yaghoobifarah do not view Hamas as a liberation force, on the contrary. She has experienced what Islamists do to women’s rights, queers and any personal freedom. To emphasise once again: victims of Islamist groups are predominantly Muslim. This shows once again that blanket support for Hamas will certainly not lead to an improvement in the situation of the Palestinians – quite the contrary.

In her contribution ‘Migration, Identification, Queerness – Contradictions of Queer Theory Before and After October 7’, artist and theorist Ana Hoffner discusses in detail the questionable blending of terrorist actions with queerness through different theoretical arguments. She describes how it is possible that the rape and brutal murder of women, children and men can be interpreted as justified resistance, and she dismantles these arguments. In doing so, she also reveals herself to be a person who has been marginalised in multiple ways: as a queer, Jewish migrant.

Cultural theorist Veronika Kracher traces how disgusting prejudices migrate between Jews, Black people and Queer people; depending on the occasion, the attributions are interchangeable. It would be comical if it weren’t so sad and dangerous. Kracher’s position is clearly defined as committed situated practice from a queer perspective.

One of the moments of solidarity beyond identity politics mentioned above is also described by Michaela Dudley. The Queer, Black author describes acts of solidarity between Jewish and Black minorities in the US. The US discourse should not forget about the injustice and violence against indigenous people, just as the crimes of slavery should never be forgotten, and it is and will remain necessary to keep this sensitivity for the foreseeable future. The same applies to crimes alongside colonialism: the countries that come to mind are the UK, Spain, Portugal – the whole of Europe, to be precise; even if colonial oppression in its worst form has ended, structural violence remains virulent in contemporary societies.

Hadas Kedar writes about a portrait series by a Bedouin artist, Khader Oshah. In doing so, she reflects on the complexity of her position as a Jewish, Ashkenazi Israeli art professional presenting Oshah’s work. Valuable knowledge regarding changes in lifestyle, social structures, religious beliefs, and a sense of belonging to society arises from the portraits’ imagery and their subjects’ appearance. On the one hand, Arab Bedouins take part in Israeli society, including enlisting in the army, etc. On the other, many Arab Bedouin families were expelled from the new Israeli state in 1948, and the Islamic belief system creates an affinity with Palestinian identity. How did Oshah choose his subjects, and in what way do they resonate a wavering Israeli/Palestinian identity? What messages are being conveyed through his choices?

The Palestinian Ahmad Mansour describes his upbringing in an Arab village in the heart of Israel, about thirty kilometres from Tel Aviv. At the age of thirteen, due to anxiety about the future and a declining sense of social connection, he became radicalised. He was directly approached at the time by an imam and remained involved with an Islamist group until he was nineteen. He started to see things differently when he was studying in Tel Aviv and got to know the people he formerly saw as enemies. His outlook was changed not only by his fellow students, but also by reading all sorts of books and through the influence of his professors, who constantly encouraged their students to think critically and form their own opinions. After a terror act occurred close by, Mansour decided to migrate to Germany and study there. He is now running an association with various projects focused on prevention work that promotes democracy and combats extremism. Most of this work is based on theatre pedagogy using role-playing methods. Those who work in the association engage in eye-level dialogues with young people, present them with alternatives and provide food for thought.[9] This work takes place in schools, asylum shelters, welcome classes, and prisons. Ahmad Mansour’s journey is a reminder that in Israel, about 20% of the population is of Arab origin, and these citizens have the same civil rights as Jewish, Christian or Druse Israeli.

Conversations and encounters with artists like Hito Steyerl have always been very important to us, ever since she was involved in Games.Fights.Videos – a project curated by Dorothee Richter at Künstlerhaus Bremen in 2002 – with her film Normalität 10.[10] Even if no specific contribution by Hito is included in this issue, we want to point out the ways in which she has influenced our discourse. She always takes a very direct and unsparing approach to certain problem areas. For example, she bought back a work from the Berlin-based Julia Stoschek Collection because the family’s money had also been generated from Nazi crimes; it was also important for us that she withdrew her work from documenta fifteen. This gesture helped to focus on the problem of dealing with antisemitic narrative in Germany/Europe. In our conversation, the relation between the RAF (Red Army Faction) and fascist connections came up. We were already adults when the Oslo Accords were negotiated.[11]

We also found it interesting that in the Süddeutsche Zeitung, Hito Steyerl referred to the repeated neo-Nazi cooperation of the RAF and revolutionary cells.[12] To refresh memories: the Palestinian assassination attempt on Israeli athletes at the 1972 Olympic Games was also based on cooperation with neo-Nazis. To understand the connection between very left-wing protagonists and other (right-wing/Islamic) terrorism, one could think of this case: Gerd Albartus, a journalist and former member of the Revolutionary Cells, later worked for the Green Party. He had connections with the Carlos Group, which was then a subgroup of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP).[13] One day, he was summoned to Beirut, flew there, and was executed as a traitor. At the time, the Carlos Group was operating in a revolutionary mercenary capacity, similar to the Wagner Group, which was paid for by Saddam Hussein, Algeria, and repeatedly by the Stasi. They were hired by various secret services to carry out assassinations. This occurred during the decadent phase of the 1970s Palestine solidarity movement. Carlos is still alive and is currently incarcerated in France, where he has become a radical Islamist who supported Osama bin Laden. This development appears to be a possible progression. However, this phase of ‘Palestine solidarity’ is forgotten, although it is possible that some individuals – those who remember the Entebbe aeroplane hijacking – are aware of it.[14] Nevertheless, this phase of solidarity is not as prevalent in the younger generation, partly due to the lack of courage among the former protagonists to speak out. A similar situation exists with Japanese-Palestine solidarity, which was equally problematic. (Remember the Tokyo files from documenta fifteen).[15] The aftermath of the Japanese terror group added to the left being largely marginalised in Japan for the next four decades, as they lost credibility due to internal purges and murders. Which makes it very obvious that to support and feed Palestinian people in Gaza today, one has to use other channels than terrorist groups.

Besides other topics in the digital, algorithmic, new surveillance society, Hito Steyerl came back to point out traces of the Nazi regime, for example in Linz, which thematised the material traces of Nazi rule on a building and a bridge there.[16] And this will be the link to the last contribution to the issue, by architectural theorist Stephan Trüby, who looks into architectural space and fascism. The last article therefore opens the issue to another cultural field. Stephan Trüby and the research team worked for years on a research project that included symposia, walks through cities, workshops and a website. As a research project, ‘Rechte Räume/Right-Wing Spaces’ manifests not only via publications, but also via a digital ‘Atlas of Authoritarian (Meta-) Politics in Architecture, Urbanism and Culture’[17]. From a curatorial perspective, the website combines in a meaningful way different events and outputs on a visually compelling and informative platform. Last but not least, this article expands the critique of right-wing spaces to include the critique of authoritarian spaces.

We hope that with this issue, we open up towards shared political aims, which will be manifested through equal opportunities, diminishing structural violence, and a diverse, feminist, queer, anti-racist, anti-antisemitic society that will rethink and change the income inequalities and engage in the redistribution of wealth on a long-term basis. With this issue and its multiple voices, we hope to have shown that the struggle is about a political positioning and not about identity politics. These shared aims point towards a radical democracy, which will be a democracy to come.

Michaela Conen, PhD, is a cultural manager and scholar whose work focuses on strategic communication, institutional branding and diversity-oriented public engagement in the arts and academia. She leads the Strategic Marketing Department at Berlin University of the Arts (UdK Berlin), where she develops university-wide positioning strategies. Her academic and professional interests include antisemitism prevention, cultural policy and the role of public institutions in democratic societies. She holds a doctorate in Cultural and Media Management from the University of Music and Theatre Hamburg.

Daniel Laufer is an artist and curator, teaching artistic and aesthetic practice at Leuphana University Lüneburg and the State Academy of Fine Arts in Karlsruhe. He creates hybrid film installations merging cinematic language with visual art. His dreamlike, non-linear narratives explore memory, myth, and storytelling, destabilizing temporal logic and generating immersive spaces where perception becomes a stage. Drawing on a media-archaeological approach, he combines historical and contemporary filmic techniques with language, painting, scenery, and performance into intermedial constellations. He has exhibited internationally, including Artists Space, New York; Jewish Museum Berlin; Jewish Museum Frankfurt; Kunstmuseum Bonn; Kunstverein Hannover; Kunstverein Harburger Bahnhof; and KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Berlin. Forthcoming solo exhibitions include Kunsthalle Lingen and Rib Rotterdam (2026). He has also published in Texte zur Kunst and the Journal of the Dubnow Institute, among other publications.

Dorothee Richter, PhD, is Professor in Contemporary Curating at the University of Reading, UK, where she directs the PhD in Practice in Curating programme. She previously served as head of the Postgraduate Programme in Curating (CAS/MAS) at Zurich University of the Arts (ZHdK), Switzerland. Richter has worked extensively as a curator: she initiated the Curating Degree Zero Archive and was artistic director at Künstlerhaus Bremen, where she curated various symposia on feminist issues in contemporary arts, as well as an archive on feminist practices entitled Materialien/Materials. Together with Ronald Kolb, Richter directed a film on Fluxus: Flux Us Now, Fluxus Explored with a Camera. Her most recent project was Into the Rhythm: From Score to Contact Zone, a collaborative exhibition at the ARKO Art Center, Seoul, in 2024. This project was co-curated by OnCurating (Dorothee Richter, Ronald Kolb) and ARKO (curator Haena Noh, producer Haebin Lee). Richter is Executive Editor and Editor-in-Chief of OnCurating.org, and recently founded the OnCurating Academy Berlin.