by Sophie Adams // Apr. 23, 2026
Minor keys “come alive in the quiet tones, the lower frequencies, the hums, the consolations of poetry.” This year’s 61st Venice Biennale preserves the curation of Koyo Kouoh after her sudden passing in May 2025. In a world that is loud, frenzied and unstable, Kouoh’s curatorial vision looked for pockets of intimacy within the noise, shedding light on artists in unrecognized spaces, and while the exhibition will be bound within an air of grief, it also serves as a space to recognize her extraordinary career. The international art exhibition will open its doors on May 9th and run until November 22nd, prompting us throughout its opening to attune to the quiet and tender moments and to reflect on the curator’s legacy.
Koyo Kouoh, portrait // Photo by Mirjam Kluka
Artists, like players in an orchestra, join together to create a collected composition, weaving together tone, melody and voice. Musically, the minor keys achieve a somber, sad and mysterious tone, yet Kouoh proposes that “joy, solace, hope and transcendence manifest as well.” This year, the Biennale has a series of motifs that appear throughout the exhibition: among these are “Shrines”—in which prominence is given to the practices of two artists, Issa Samb and Beverly Buchanan; processional assemblies; enchantment in the face of cynicism; spiritual and physical rest; and finally, artist-centred institution-building or “Schools,” directing energy and resources to social purposes.
Issa Samb, portrait, 2016 // Photo by Sophie Thun, courtesy of RAW Material Company
Samb—an artist, poet, playwright and co-founder of Dakar’s revolutionary collective Laboratoire Agit’Art—was a constant presence, mentor and source of inspiration for Kouoh, who paid tribute to his work and philosophy through international projects. Buchanan’s practice, which Koyo came to know later, employed anti-monumental strategies within Land Art and public sculpture, often situating her works in sites marked by complex histories. Both artists shared an understanding of art as a generative force—one that extends beyond physical objects and resists traditional forms of preservation. The Sala Chini, leading into the Giardini’s Central Pavilion, will pay tribute to their work.
Beverly Buchanan: In the Garden (The Artist at Home),’ 1993, inkjet on foamcore, 26.7 x 18.4 x 0.6cm // Courtesy of the Estate of Beverly Buchanan and Andrew Edlin Gallery, New York
Themes of procession, inspired by carnival choreographies and Afro-Atlantic gatherings, and the state of rest appear as two juxtaposing positions that here work in harmony, binding together thoughts and artistic considerations in the Giardini’s main exhibition. The exhibition emphasizes the importance of learning, spaces of regeneration and discovery, with the ‘Schools’ accentuating the need for ecological consciousness, listening to the “persistent signals of earth and life, connecting to soul frequencies.” Throughout the Biennale, performances will present the body as an instrument, playing tunes of memory, healing and growth. A procession of poets will also take place in the Giardini, inspired by Kouoh’s ‘Poetry Caravan,’ a voyage she undertook with nine African poets from Dakar to Timbuktu in 1999. At the same time, the Creole garden and the courtyard manifest as places of rest, reconnection and engagement with non-human lifeforms.
Raymond Pinto leading a collaborative movement workshop at ‘Carry My Not Knowing’ in the G.A.S. Lagos Courtyard // Photo by Anthony Dike, courtesy of G.A.S. Foundation
Special projects at the Biennale will see artists Temitayo Ogunbiyi, Uriel Orlow, Fabrice Aragno and Gala Porras-Kim explore playfulness and interaction. Outside, Ogunbiyi’s sculptures on the lawns allow for a space to relax and reflect, and Orlow’s botanical maps explore the Biennale through the language of plants. Meanwhile, Argano reinterprets Jean-Luc Godard’s ‘The Image Book,’ taking the moving image into a three dimensional format in the historic fort building. Gala Porras-Kim was selected for the Applied Arts Pavillion in the Arsenale, devised by Kouoh in collaboration with the Victoria and Albert Museum, London. In this project, Porras-Kim explores the dialogue between cultural artefacts and the museums and institutions that hold their history and their context, in a series of drawings, sculptures and video. The project will investigate how curators and conservators shape the function of archived objects.
Page spread, Gala Porras-Kim: ‘Conditions for recognising a living stone’ // Courtesy of Pina Magazine
Curating the exhibition, Kouoh highlighted the importance of preservation and the impulse to “tune in sotto voce to the whispers.” Raised in Cameroon and later Switzerland, Kouoh was the first African woman to curate the Biennale, for which she selected 110 participants. A much smaller number than previous years, the focus is on the care, attention and quality of the artwork, urging viewers to “shift to a slower gear.” The exhibition, Kouoh writes, “stands as a collective score composed together.” Led by their conductor, the artists inhabit Kouoh’s sense of place, her loud whispers, her minor keys.
Exhibition Info
La Biennale di Venezia
Group Show: ‘In Minor Keys’
Exhibition: May 9-Nov. 22, 2026
labiennale.org
Giardini della Biennale, 30122 Venezia VE, Italy, click here for map
Arsenale di Venezia, 30122 Venezia VE, Italy, click here for map
