Manifesta 10 Artist List Revealed Amid Boycott Calls and Political Tensions in St Petersburg

Kasper König has unveiled the artist lineup for Manifesta 10, scheduled from 28 June to 31 October 2014 in St Petersburg, Russia. The selection blends established figures like Henri Matisse, Joseph Beuys, Cindy Sherman, Louise Bourgeois, and Bruce Nauman with midcareer practitioners. Public commissions will extend beyond the main venue, The Hermitage, with works by Pawel Althamer, Ragnar Kjartansson—whose piece will be installed in a major train station—and Mierle Laderman Ukeles. The event faces boycott pressures over Russia's stance on gay rights and the situation in Ukraine, leading the Russian collective Chto Delat to withdraw earlier this month. In their statement, Chto Delat criticized Manifesta for not directly addressing the political crisis, advocating for cultural projects to dissent against government policies of violence and repression. König has expressed a desire to avoid purely political statements, but his choices may provoke authorities due to past works by artists like Wolfgang Tillmans and Henrik Olesen that reference homosexuality. The full list includes Marc Camille Chaimowicz, Lado Darakhvelidze, Katharina Fritsch, Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster, Thomas Hirschhorn, Ann Veronica Janssens, Alevtina Kakhidze, Natasha Kraevskaya, Erik van Lieshout, Vladislav Mamyshev-Monroe, Yasumasa Morimura, Deimantas Narkevičius, Pavel Pepperstein, Giovanni Battista Piranesi, Alexandra Pirici, Slavs and Tatars, Alexandra Sukhareva, and Joëlle Tuerlinckx.