The 100 most influential people in the art world

Every annual edition of ArtReview’s Power 100 discovers what exactly is power in the art world and who and what succeeded to be influential over the last 12 months, and that influence goes beyond the local.

To mark this year’s trends: the curators behind this year’s Documenta and “Unions” are among the top five on this year’s ArtReview Power 100 list. The NFT, which ranked 1st last year, has vanished from the list since the crypto crash.

The Indonesian collective RUANGRUPA, which held the curatorial role at one of the art world’s biggest events in 2022, Documenta 15, has reached the very top of ArtReview’s Power 100 list of the year 2022. It is followed by Cecilia Alemani in second place, the Curator and Artistic Director of the 59th Venice Biennale.

“Unions” Activist Movement, that perform collective action among artists and museum workers may seem to be an unexpected entry in 3rd place this year, yet it clearly reflects their growing popularity among museum workers and a renewed focus on labour rights.

ArtReview again recognized plenty of great thinkers this time around, including favourites from past lists like Hito Steyerl (an artist engaged in political statement-making and formal experimentation, ranked 4th this time) and Fred Moten (Thinker, American poet, critic and theorist inspiring a generation of artists, ranked 5th).

Undoubtedly, many artists who have been on everyone’s lips over the past few years appeared on the list of Power 100 this year: Wolfgang Tillmans (celebrated photographer, with his vast retrospective opening this year at MoMA, New York, ranked 6th in 2022); Simone Leigh (sculptor and Golden Lion recipient at this year’s Venice Biennale, took No. 7 on the list).

Nan Goldin (ranked 8th, a photographer, activist and subject of a feature documentary by the Academy Award-winning director Laura Poitras); Anne Imhof (No.11, an artist whose work increasingly resonates in the worlds of fashion and pop culture); Cao Fei (ranked 12th, an artist exploring digital culture).

Wu Tsang (a performance artist and director exploring marginalised identities and queer histories, took №14 on the list); and Olafur Eliasson (ranked 15th, with his creative artworks on the edge of art, architecture, ecology and new technologies).

The traditional “holders of power” in the art world have been also mentioned on the top half of the list: David Zwirner, gallerist, the head of an expanding New York, London, Paris and Hong Kong gallery empire (listed 9th), gallerists Iwan, Manuela Wirth & Marc Payot (together take №17).

Global gallerist Larry Gagosian (ranked 20th this year), President and CEO of Pace Gallery Marc Glimcher (№23), Monika Sprüth and Philomene Magers - gallerists championing women artists (take №30 on the list).

Curator and Artistic Director of the Serpentine Galleries Hans Ulrich Obrist (listed 34th), and gallerist Emmanuel Perrotin (ranked 46th).