Gürsoy Doğtaş, curator and art historian, researches labour migration and intersectional queer studies.

Josep Bohigas, renowned Barcelona-based architect and urbanist, is the First Creative Mediator. Known for reimagining public space and housing, he now shapes the Urban Vision for Manifesta 16 Ruhr and will work in two churches.

In Essen, German René Block, pioneering curator of the Fluxus movement, works in a tandem with Leonie Herweg, Berlin-based curator and co-founder of GROTTO.

In Bochum, Anda Rottenberg, one of Poland’s most influential curators and former director of the Zachęta National Gallery, partners with Krzysztof Kosciuczuk, curator and writer with experience from documenta 14 to Muzeum Susch and contributor to Frieze, Mousse and Artforum.

In Duisburg and Gelsenkirchen, Henry Meyric Hughes, one of Europe’s most experienced curators and former head of the British Council’s Visual Arts Department and Director of Hayward Gallery in London, works with Michael Kurtz, British critic and curator, who writes for Art Monthly, e-flux and ArtReview.