The curator for the 2026 Venice Art Biennale, Koyo Kouoh, passed away at the age of 58, as announced by her affiliated institution based in South Africa via an Instagram post on Saturday.
The Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa located in Cape Town, South Africa, verified the information during the night but did not provide any reason for her passing. The Biennale expressed they were “profoundly grieved and shocked” upon hearing about her demise.
Kouoh became the inaugural African female curator of the Venice Art Biennale. She was born in Cameroon in 1967.
asked to curate the 2026 installment
of the Biennale in December. A leading figure in promoting Pan-Africanism throughout the art world, Kouoh had been executive director and chief curator at Zeitz since 2019.
In December 2024, appointed by the board of directors at La Biennale, Kouoh dedicated herself with “passion, intellectual rigour, and vision to shaping and advancing the Biennale Arte 2026,” as stated by the Venice art organization.
The unveiling of the exhibition’s title and theme was scheduled for May 20 in Venice.
Kouoh further established her reputation through her curation of the groundbreaking 2022 exhibit titled “When We See Us: A Century of Black Representation in Paintings.” The exhibition’s title drew inspiration from the 2019 Netflix series.
When They See Us
by African-American director
Ava DuVernay
, which centers around the perception of Black youth as possible perpetrators and therefore viewed as a menace.
The Biennale stated, “Her departure has created a significant gap within the realm of contemporary art and among the global community of artists, curators, and academics fortunate enough to have known and revered her exceptional dedication both intellectually and as a person.”
It offered “its heartfelt sympathy and love” to Kouoh’s family and friends, as well as “to everyone who embarked on a journey of exploration and critical thinking about contemporary art alongside her.”
In a statement, Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni conveyed her “utmost sympathy” over Kouoh’s “untimely and unexpected death,” highlighting that it “creates a gap in the realm of contemporary art.”
