Com’è la mostra internazionale della Biennale di Venezia? Recensione di “In minor keys” di Koyo Kouoh
The 2026 Venice Biennale, titled "In minor keys" and curated by the late Koyo Kouoh, opens to the public on May 9 amid controversies including the absence of the president's name in the colophon at the Arsenale entrance. The exhibition, organized by Kouoh's team (Rory Tsapayi, Siddharta Mitter, Marie Helene Pereira, Gabe Beckhurst Feijoo, and Rasha Salty), unfolds across the Giardini and the Arsenale's Corderie, featuring works that balance strength and beauty with a harmonious mix of voices and themes. The Giardini section is particularly compelling, with a non-linear, polycentric layout that feels like a living organism, while the Arsenale offers further depth.
This Biennale matters because it is the first since Kouoh's death on May 10, 2025, and her absence is deeply felt, yet the exhibition becomes a powerful hymn to life. It builds on themes from Adriano Pedrosa's 2024 edition "Stranieri ovunque" but surpasses it in installation and selection quality. The show emphasizes a new ecological ethic that intertwines people, animals, and plants, celebrating trees as sites of memory and tradition, and highlights the intersection of art, craft, and oral history through ancient techniques. It stands as a major statement on life, memory, and ecological interconnectedness in contemporary art.