Bonaventure Ndikung has been appointed the future director of the Haus der Kulturen der Welt in Berlin. Ndikung is to succeed Bernd Scherer as director of Berlin’s Haus der Kulturen der Welt (House of World Cultures), starting on January 1, 2023, reports DW.
Ndikung, who is 44 and has a strong presence can assert himself well — also in the field of art, which for him is an arena of social debate. For him, art is “the highest form of politics,” but at the same time, it is a “universal language that is understood by almost everyone.”
Art also has the potential to reconcile, Ndikung pointed out in an interview with DW. He mentioned, for instance, the biennial arts festival in Sonsbeek, the Netherlands, which he is currently curating, as well as the Documenta 14 show, which he co-curated. Both originally emerged from the rubble of World War II, with art meant to reconnect people. Likewise, the African Biennial of Photography in Bamako, Mali; exhibitions in Algiers and Dakar; and the Finnish pavilion at the Venice Art Bienniale, all bear Ndikung’s curatorial signature.
