pacesetter

Etymology

pace + setter

noun

1. A person who determines the rate of action through leading.
   It’s all been a dreadful embarrassment, but why should anyone outside Germany be concerned? Because Documenta was always a pacesetter — and this year’s edition certainly put its finger on a larger shift, seen too in our museums, our art schools and our magazines, away from aesthetic ambition and intellectual seriousness and toward the easier comforts of togetherness, advocacy and fun. 2022-09-23, Jason Farago, “The World’s Most Prestigious Art Exhibition Is Over. Maybe Forever.”, in The New York Times, →ISSN