The 61st Venice Biennale, titled 'In Minor Keys,' opened with a central exhibition curated by the late Koyo Kouoh, who died in 2025. The show features 110 artists and collectives, realized by a team of five curators known as 'la squadra di Koyo.' The exhibition spans the Giardini and Arsenale venues, with works including Otobong Nkanga's living facade installation, Theo Eshetu's dying olive tree, and Nick Cave's vibrant sculptures. Poems and quotes by Refaat al-Areer, Etel Adnan, Toni Morrison, and Ben Okri punctuate the spaces, encouraging visitors to pause and reflect.
The Biennale matters because it represents a posthumous realization of Kouoh's vision, emphasizing slowness and rest in an often chaotic art world. The exhibition's focus on collective curation and its integration of poetry, environmental themes, and carnival traditions reflects broader shifts toward collaborative, socially engaged art. The juxtaposition of growth and decay in works like Nkanga's and Eshetu's underscores urgent conversations about climate and mortality, while the inclusion of diverse voices from Africa, the Caribbean, and beyond challenges Eurocentric art narratives.