The 61st Venice Biennale, titled "In Minor Keys," opens with a keynote exhibition conceived by the late Koyo Kouoh and realized by her team after her sudden death in May 2025. The show spans the Central Pavilion in the Giardini and the Arsenale, featuring 110 artists and collectives. Highlights include Bracha L. Ettinger's installation at the Hotel Metropole, where she transforms a room where Sigmund Freud wrote part of *The Interpretation of Dreams* into a feminist 'borderspace,' and works by artists such as Arthur Jafa, Richard Prince, Issa Samb, Beverly Buchanan, and Daniel Lind-Ramos. The exhibition explores themes of history, colonialism, war, and environmental destruction, aiming for a 'sotto voce' tone that nonetheless delivers powerful, liberating statements.
This Biennale matters because it represents a major curatorial vision completed posthumously, honoring Koyo Kouoh's legacy while addressing urgent global issues through a diverse, international roster of artists. The exhibition's focus on 'ungovernable' artists and collectives who persist in sounding alarms about societal crises underscores the role of art as a form of resistance and poetic justice. The inclusion of figures like Issa Samb and Beverly Buchanan, who celebrated marginalized communities and everyday life, reinforces the Biennale's commitment to amplifying voices often overlooked by mainstream art history.