Hendrik Folkerts

Hendrik Folkerts is Curator of International Contemporary Art and Head of Exhibitions at the Moderna Museet, Stockholm.

Folkerts previously was Dittmer Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art at the Art Institute of Chicago (2017-2022); Curator at documenta 14, Kassel/Athens (2014-2017); Curator of Performance, Film, and Discursive Programs at the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam (2010-2015); and Coordinator of the Curatorial Program at De Appel arts centre, Amsterdam (2009-2011).

Folkerts specializes in performance, commissioning, and process-based exhibition-making. He has curated numerous solo and international group exhibitions as well as collection presentations, new commissions, and program series, anchored in the expanded field of performance and building on feminist, queer, and anti-colonial histories of art. The program of exhibitions, performances, and lectures Folkerts curated at the Stedelijk Museum, revolved around hosting artists and thinkers through duration and dialogue, while rethinking the museum as a critical site of public discourse and engagement.

At the Art Institute of Chicago, he organized solo exhibitions and presentations of renowned international artists. Moreover, he shepherded several key acquisitions and major gifts for the Art Institute’s collection.

As part of the curatorial team led by artistic director Adam Szymczyk, Folkerts was responsible for the two iterations of documenta 14, with a particular focus on the exhibition held in Kassel, Germany. Folkerts has also (co-)edited various publications and catalogues, as well as numerous exhibition catalogues.