VENICE — The 61st International Art Exhibition, titled In Minor Keys, opened this week at the Giardini and the Arsenale. While every Biennale marks a shift in the global art landscape, this edition carries a particular weight. Koyo Kouoh, the first woman of African descent appointed to curate the world’s oldest perennial exhibition, passed away in May 2025, just months after her appointment was announced. The Biennale board’s decision to move forward with her original proposal offers a rare and moving encounter with a curatorial vision realized posthumously.
From Finance to the Arsenale
Born in Douala and raised in Switzerland, Kouoh came to the arts after an initial career in banking. Colleagues often cite this background as the foundation for her institutional rigor and her clear-eyed understanding of how cultural organizations function. Her transition to art in the mid-1990s was shaped by her encounter with Issa Samb, the Senegalese artist and co-founder of the Laboratoire Agit’Art, whose influence moved her toward a philosophy of art as an intellectual and experiential process rather than a purely aesthetic one.
In 2008, Kouoh founded RAW Material Company in Dakar, a center functioning simultaneously as a school, residency, and exhibition space. It became the primary site for her research into pan-Africanism and feminist perspectives, themes that would later define her tenure as executive director of the Zeitz MOCAA in Cape Town from 2019 onward.
The Curatorial Framework
The 61st edition is built around a specific tonal shift. Kouoh’s curatorial statement, finalized before her death, calls for slowness, listening, and forms of repair. The title draws on the musical minor key, which she used as a metaphor for the lower frequencies of society: the voices, histories, and practices that are present but rarely centered. The exhibition foregrounds memory and collective history, diasporic representation, and a sustained interest in what it means for institutions to address historical gaps without defaulting to spectacle.
The exhibition is being managed by a curatorial team closely associated with Kouoh’s practice, including Rasha Salti, Gabe Beckhurst Feijoo, Marie-Hélène Pereira, Siddhartha Mitter, and Rory Tsapayi. By maintaining the original title and the list of participating artists, the team has chosen to present this edition not as a new project but as the fulfillment of Kouoh’s final research. The result is an exhibition that resists the fast-paced nature of the art world in favor of a deliberate, reflective atmosphere.
In Minor Keys remains on view through November 2026.
