Venice Biennale 2026 to Honour Koyo Kouoh’s Final Vision, In Minor Keys

The 61st International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia, titled In Minor Keys, will take place from Saturday, 9 May to Sunday, 22 November 2026, with preview days scheduled for 7, 8, and 9 May. The exhibition will span the Giardini, the Arsenale, and multiple locations across Venice, and will be curated according to the vision of the late Koyo Kouoh.

Prior to her passing on 10 May 2025, Kouoh—an influential curator, cultural thinker, and advocate for contemporary art from the Global South—led the development of the 2026 edition with remarkable clarity and purpose. Working closely with her team from October 2024 through early May 2025, she shaped a bold curatorial framework, selected participating artists and authors, and oversaw key aspects of the project’s conception, including its spatial design and graphic identity.

The curatorial team for Biennale Arte 2026, pictured left to right with Koyo Kouoh at the center: Siddhartha Mitter, Gabe Beckhurst Feijoo, Marie Hélène Pereira, Rasha Salti, and Rory Tsapayi.

Photo by Andrea Avezzù. Courtesy of La Biennale di Venezia.

Kouoh’s curatorial team includes advisors Gabe Beckhurst Feijoo, Marie Hélène Pereira, and Rasha Salti; editor-in-chief Siddhartha Mitter; and assistant Rory Tsapayi. Together, they remain dedicated to executing the exhibition precisely as Kouoh envisioned. With the full support of her family, La Biennale di Venezia affirms its commitment to bringing In Minor Keys to life in tribute to her extraordinary contributions to contemporary art and thought.

Originally slated for announcement on 20 May 2025, the exhibition’s concept was publicly revealed on 27 May—shortly after Kouoh’s death—out of respect for the gravity of the moment and the deep mourning shared by the international arts community.

In Minor Keys explores the poetic, sensorial, and reflective capacities of art. Rejecting spectacle and noise, it turns instead toward quiet gestures, intimate spaces, and the emotional textures that shape our lived realities. Drawing from the intellectual legacies of figures such as James Baldwin, Édouard Glissant, and Toni Morrison, the exhibition considers the “minor key” not only as a musical metaphor, but as a mode of cultural, geographical, and political expression.

Koyo Kouoh.©Mehdi Benkler

Kouoh envisioned a constellation of artists whose practices are grounded in improvisation, collective memory, and spiritual resilience—artists who find resonance in the whisper, the courtyard, the creole garden, and the overlooked margins. Rather than a commentary on the world’s crises, In Minor Keys offers a recalibration: an invitation to listen more deeply, to feel more fully, and to reconnect with what is often drowned out by the spectacle of the present.

The exhibition will unfold as a contemplative and multisensory experience—part procession, part assembly—inviting audiences into a dialogue across disciplines, geographies, and generations. It positions artistic imagination as a vital force for relation, healing, and transformation.

Further details—including the full list of participating artists, final exhibition design, and the Participating Countries—will be unveiled during an official presentation in Venice on Wednesday, 25 February 2026.