Multiculturalism and Black Artists Reshape the Art World
ArtReview's 2024 Power 100 list features eleven Black figures among the top twenty, signaling a shift toward multicultural leadership. Upcoming major exhibitions like the Venice Biennale (led by Koyo Kouoh's former team) and Documenta (curated by Naomi Beckwith) reflect this trend. The article traces the intellectual roots of this movement to French Theory, Homi Bhabha, and decolonial thinkers, citing key exhibitions like Magiciens de la Terre (1989). It highlights Black artists such as Yinka Shonibare, Steve McQueen, Theaster Gates, Simone Leigh, and Otobong Nkanga as beneficiaries of this shift. The text criticizes Trump-era backlash against elite universities and multiculturalism, framing the current moment as a move toward cooperative aesthetics, as seen in Documenta Fifteen and Sharjah 2025. It notes the rise of creolization and indigenous perspectives in art theory, referencing Achille Mbembe and Anna L. Tsing. The article concludes that while some white artists like Joseph Kosuth may be marginalized, the global art scene is increasingly diverse, with new exhibition hubs in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, India, China, and Japan.
Key facts
- ArtReview's 2024 Power 100 includes eleven Black figures in the top twenty.
- Only three of the top twenty are white.
- The next Venice Biennale will be led by the staff of the late Koyo Kouoh.
- The next Documenta will be curated by Naomi Beckwith from the Guggenheim.
- Magiciens de la Terre exhibition was held at Centre Pompidou in 1989.
- Documenta Fifteen (2022) and Sharjah 2025 emphasized cooperative aesthetics.
- Okwui Enwezor curated Documenta 11 in 2002 and the Venice Biennale in 2015.
- Steve McQueen transformed the Schaulager in Basel into a meditation space with neon lights and jazz/blues in summer 2025.
Entities
Artists
- Koyo Kouoh
- Naomi Beckwith
- Sheika Hoor Al Qasimi
- Sheikha Al-Mayassa Bint Hamad Bin Khalifa Al Tani
- Homi Bhabha
- Saskia Sassen
- Arundati Roy
- Amartya Sen
- Oswald de Andrade
- Edouard Glissant
- Martin Luther King
- Malcom X
- Angela Davis
- bell hooks
- Toni Morrison
- Renée Green
- Salah Hassan
- Donna Haraway
- Isaac Julien
- Saidiya Hartman
- Achille Mbembe
- Anna L. Tsing
- Yinka Shonibare
- Steve McQueen
- Theaster Gates
- Simone Leigh
- Mark Bradford
- Precious Okoyomon
- John Akomfrah
- El Anatsui
- Ibrahim Mahama
- Carrie Mae Weems
- Kerry James Marshall
- Otobong Nkanga
- Clement Greenberg
- Nan Goldin
- Joseph Kosuth
- Okwui Enwezor
- Jean-Hubert Martin
- Silvère Lotringer
- Angela Vettese
- Frances Stonor Saunders
- Judy Mary Cénat
- Peter Zeihan
Institutions
- ArtReview
- Venice Biennale
- Documenta
- Guggenheim
- Harvard
- MIT
- Semiotext(e)
- October
- Artforum
- Centre Pompidou
- Columbia University
- Cornell University
- University of California Santa Cruz
- MoMA
- Schaulager Basel
- Apple
- CIA
- Artribune
- Amazon
- Fazi
- Meltemi
- Sperling & Kupfer
- Algre
- W. W. Norton & Company
- Marietti
- Stanford University Press
- Harper Business
- Palazzo Te
Locations
- United States
- Boston
- Paris
- France
- Basel
- Switzerland
- Sharjah
- United Arab Emirates
- Qatar
- Venice
- Italy
- China
- India
- Japan
- Saudi Arabia
- Africa
- Brazil
- South Africa