The 61st Venice Biennale, titled "In Minor Keys," opened on May 9, 2026, carrying forward the vision of Koyo Kouoh, the artistic director appointed in 2024 who passed away suddenly on May 10, 2025. The exhibition spans the Giardini, Arsenale, Forte Marghera, and other venues, featuring 111 participating artists. The Biennale chose to realize Kouoh's fully developed curatorial framework—including artist selection, catalog contributions, graphic identity, and exhibition architecture—rather than replace her vision with another.
This Biennale matters because it tests how cultural institutions safeguard and translate a curator's vision after their death, transforming the exhibition from anticipation into custodianship. Kouoh was the first African woman to curate the International Art Exhibition of Venice, and her death risks monumentalization—turning loss into icon. The exhibition's title suggests a disposition toward listening and nuance, challenging the art system to keep the show living, complex, and plural rather than merely symbolic.