After Adriano Pedrosa’s deep dive into South America and the interconnected Indigenous knowledge of the region, the Venice Biennale is turning its attention to the vast and dynamic artistic landscape of the African continent. The Biennale has named Cameroon-born curator Koyo Kouoh as artistic director of its 61st International Art Exhibition, slated for 2026. Kouoh’s appointment marks a historic moment: she is the first African woman to curate the prestigious event and only the second African-born curator to take on this role, following the groundbreaking 2015 edition helmed by Okwui Enwezor.
“It is a once-in-a-lifetime honor and privilege to follow in the footsteps of luminary predecessors…,” Kouoh said in a statement, “and to compose an exhibition that I hope will carry meaning for the world we currently live in—and most importantly, for the world we want to make.” She went on to call artists “visionaries and social scientists” who let us reflect and project in unique ways, hinting at the ambitious and globally resonant vision she will undoubtedly bring to Venice.
Currently the executive director and chief curator of Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa (Zeitz MOCAA) in Cape Town, Kouoh has played a transformative role since joining the institution in 2019. Under her leadership, the museum has solidified its reputation as a leading institution for contemporary African art and its diaspora. Among her many accomplishments, she spearheaded the landmark 2022/2024 exhibition “When We See Us: A Century of Black Figuration in Painting,” the largest and most comprehensive exploration of Black self-representation, cultural expression and history to date, with more than 100 works by artists from Africa and the global African Diaspora.
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Born in Cameroon in 1967 and raised in Zurich, Kouoh leads a life as global as her curatorial approach, splitting her time between Cape Town, Dakar and Basel. Her distinguished career includes curatorial roles at Documenta 12 and 13 in Kassel, Germany, and notable exhibitions such as “Still (the) Barbarians” for the 37th EVA International in Limerick in 2016 and “Body Talk: Feminism, Sexuality and the Body in the Works of Six African Women Artists” at WIELS in Brussels in 2015. Kouoh also curated the artistic program for the 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair from 2013 to 2017, cementing her reputation as a champion of African and diaspora artists.
In 2009, Kouoh co-founded the Raw Material Company, an art center in Dakar focused on curatorial practices and art criticism. Raw Material Company has since become a hub for fostering intellectual creativity in Africa, blending disciplines like literature, film, fashion and architecture. Beyond institutional leadership, Kouoh has significantly contributed to the rise of African artists such as Abdoulaye Konaté, Otobong Nkanga, Johannes Phokela and Tracey Rose, for whom she prepared the first major monograph.
While it is too early to speculate on her exact curatorial themes, Kouoh’s history suggests a Biennale that will highlight Africa’s contributions to global culture, framing it within a global discourse that addresses historical injustices, colonial inequalities and other pressing ecological and economic issues that connect the continent to the rest of the world.
Her appointment clearly indicates the Biennale’s commitment to maintaining a global and progressive artistic dialogue, even as Italy grapples with shifting political and cultural dynamics. Concerns linger over the influence of Giorgia Meloni’s far-right government and the recent appointment of conservative journalist Pietrangelo Buttafuoco as president of the Biennale, which some fear signals a turn toward cultural conservatism. In this context, Kouoh’s selection feels like a deliberate counterbalance, reaffirming the Biennale’s standing as an autonomous international platform for contemporary art.
Buttafuoco himself offered a poetic take on her appointment, declaring to the press that, “The appointment of Koyo Kouoh as the director of the Visual Arts Sector is the acknowledgment of a broad horizon of vision at the dawn of a day profuse with new words and eyes. Her perspective as a curator, scholar, and influential public figure meets with the most refined, young and disruptive intelligence. With her here in Venice, La Biennale confirms what it has offered the world for over a century: to be the home of the future.”
