“This edition of the Biennale is said to be centered on decolonial engagement, to offer ‘repair … as a form of agency’ and ‘a starting point … for critical conversation, in order to find ways together to care for the now.’ Yet the Biennale made the decision to commodify photos of unlawfully imprisoned and brutalized Iraqi bodies under occupation, displaying them without the consent of the victims and without any input from the Biennale’s participating Iraqi artists, whose work was adjacently installed without their knowledge. Who is given agency in this form of ‘repair’?”

Rijin Sahakian, “Regarding torture at the Berlin Biennale“ (Artforum)