Renato Barilli's Scathing Critique of documenta 14

Renato Barilli, a veteran critic who has attended every documenta since 1972, declares the 14th edition the worst yet, blaming curator Adam Szymczyk for a misguided partnership with Athens. Barilli argues that the Fridericianum was filled with works from a soon-to-open Greek contemporary art museum that only includes Greek-born artists, which he calls chauvinistic. He criticizes the ideological focus on Greece as a victim of plutocracies rather than on contemporary art trends. Despite these flaws, Barilli notes positive aspects: the avoidance of usual suspects, and highlights works by Maria Lai, Gianikian–Ricci Lucchi, Regina José Galindo, Maret Anne Sara, Maria Hassabi, Artur Żmijewski, Cecilia Vicuña, Apostolos Georgiou, and Nomin Bold. He also criticizes the poor catalogues and difficult navigation of the exhibition spaces.