ruangrupa is a Jakarta-based collective established in 2000. It has been selected as artistic director of documenta fifteen in Kassel (DE), in 2022. It is a non-profit organisation that strives to support the idea of art within urban and cultural contexts by involving artists and other disciplines such as social sciences, politics, technology, media, etc, to give critical observation and views towards Indonesian urban contemporary issues. ruangrupa also produces collaborative works in the form of art projects, such as exhibitions, festivals, art labs, workshops, research, as well as books, magazines and online journal publications.

In 2018, learning from their experience establishing Gudang Sarinah Ekosistem together with Serrum and Grafis Huru Hara, ruangrupa co-initiated GUDSKUL: contemporary art collective and ecosystem studies. It is a public learning space established to practise an expanded understanding of collective values, such as equality, sharing, solidarity, friendship and togetherness.

As an artists’ collective, ruangrupa has been involved in many collaborative and exchange projects, including participating in major exhibitions such as Gwangju Biennale (2002 & 2018), Istanbul Biennial (2005), Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art (Brisbane, 2012), Singapore Biennale (2011), São Paulo Biennial (2014), Aichi Triennale (Nagoya, 2016) and Cosmopolis at Centre Pompidou (Paris, 2017).
In 2016, ruangrupa curated TRANSaction: Sonsbeek 2016 in Arnhem (NL).

Ayşe Güleç was born in 1964 in Ankara. As a child she came to Germany with her parents, who moved there as guest workers. In 1986 she began her studies in Kassel, where she remained. Ayşe Güleç is an educationalist and activist researcher, who works at the interface of art, art mediation, anti-racism, migration, and community based building and education.

From 1998 to 2016, Güleç worked at the sociocultural center Kulturzentrum Schlachthof, where she was responsible for migration as well as local, regional, and European cultural networking. For documenta 12 in 2007, she developed the Advisory Board, subsequently becoming the group’s spokesperson. In 2012 she was part of the dOCUMENTA (13) Maybe Education Group and prepared art mediators for the exhibition. From 2016 to 2017, she was Head of Community Liaison for documenta 14, creating connections between artists and sociopolitical contexts, and coordinated The Society of Friends of Halit as part of the Parliament of Bodies for the exhibition and public programs. From 2018 to 2019, she worked for the Museum für Moderne Kunst in Frankfurt am Main as Head of the Education Department.

Ayşe Güleç is also part of the Kassel-base Initiative 6. April, and is active in different anti-racist movements.