ADVERTISEMENTThe curatorial vision for the 61st Venice Biennale, ‘In Minor Keys’, was revealed in Venice today in an emotional presentation at the Sala delle Colonne of Ca’ Giustinian, the Biennale’s historic headquarters.
Originally set for announcement later this year, the theme was unveiled ahead of schedule following the sad and unexpected death of the exhibition’s curator, Koyo Kouoh, on 10 May.
A leading figure in promoting Pan-Africanism throughout the art world, Kouoh had served as executive director and chief curator at the Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa in Cape Town, South Africa since 2019.
She earned global acclaim for curating the 2022 exhibition When We See Us: A Century of Black Figuration in Painting, a monumental historical show inspired by Ava DuVernay’s Netflix miniseries When They See Us, and became the first African woman invited to lead the Venice Art Biennale in December 2024.
With the support of Kouoh’s family, La Biennale di Venezia confirmed it will proceed with the 2026 exhibition exactly as she conceived it, in what will now be a posthumous tribute to her life’s work.
As they noted, the edition will explore the spaces in which minor keys operate, to conceive “an exhibition that invites listening to the persistent signals of earth and life, connecting to soul frequencies. If in music, the minor keys are often associated with strangeness, melancholy, and sorrow, here their joy, solace, hope, and transcendence manifest as well.”
Scheduled to run from 9 May to 22 November 2026, ‘In Minor Keys’ will take place across the Giardini, the Arsenale, and various venues throughout Venice.
The full list of participating artists, the exhibition’s visual identity, and national pavilions will be officially announced at a press conference on 25 February 2026.
