The Manifesta Foundation announced today that Kasper König will organize Manifesta 10, which runs June 28–Oct. 31, 2014, in St. Petersburg, Russia. It had been rumored for months that Mr. König, who was director of Cologne’s Museum Ludwig from 2000 to 2012, had been tapped for the top job, as Baibakov Art Projects reported in June.
In a statement released to press Mr. König, who is the father of dealers Johann König (of Berlin) and Leo Koenig (of New York) and brother of Cologne publisher Walther König, said, “Manifesta 10 in the Hermitage will be subtle and substantial; contemporary art and exhibits from the State Hermitage Museum should dance side by side.”
Some in the international art community have recently called on Manifesta to reconsider its choice of St. Petersburg for the biennial (which visits a new city for each edition), citing the continuing persecution of gays in Russia.
Before joining the Museum Ludwig, Mr. König was a professor at Frankfurt’s Städelschule from 1988 to 1999. In 1989 he was named director. He was also the founding director of the school’s associated exhibition space, Portikus, and the cofounder of Skulptur Projekte Münster, which runs every 10 years in that German city.
