Running from May 9 through November 22, 2026, the 61st International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia has unfolded across Venice’s Central Pavilion in the Giardini, the Arsenale, and off-site venues including Forte Marghera. Titled In Minor Keys, the edition stands as both a poignant monument to its late curator, Koyo Kouoh, and the center of intense institutional debate.
The Vision of Koyo Kouoh
In December 2024, the Board of Directors of La Biennale di Venezia, led by President Pietrangelo Buttafuoco—who was appointed under Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s right-wing coalition government—selected Swiss-Cameroonian curator Koyo Kouoh to direct the Visual Arts Department. The appointment was historic: Kouoh, who served as Executive Director and Chief Curator of Zeitz MOCAA in Cape Town and founded RAW Material Company in Dakar, became the first African woman tapped to direct the Venice Biennale Arte. Although some observers anticipated a traditionalist or nationalist shift under the new leadership, Buttafuoco supported Kouoh’s appointment and later upheld her pan-African curatorial blueprint.
Tragedy struck on May 10, 2025, when Kouoh passed away at age 57 in Basel, Switzerland, following an illness. With the full backing of her family, the Biennale resolved to mount the exhibition adhering strictly to the curatorial framework, spatial design, catalogue scheme, and artist roster she finalized prior to her death, which had been refined during a collaborative workshop at RAW Material Company in April 2025. Her plans were realized by a five-member advisory collective known as La Squadra di Koyo Kouoh, comprising Gabe Beckhurst Feijoo, Marie Hélène Pereira, Rasha Salti, editor-in-chief Siddhartha Mitter, and research assistant Rory Tsapayi.
Tuning to ‘Lower Frequencies’
Borrowing its title and conceptual framework from musical tonality, In Minor Keys deliberately turns away from spectacle, didacticism, and what Kouoh termed “orchestral bombast.” Instead, the curatorial statement prioritizes intimacy, affective encounters, low-frequency listening, dissonance, pause, and radical joy. Drawing intellectual inspiration from Édouard Glissant, James Baldwin, Gabriel García Márquez, and Toni Morrison, the exhibition conceives of art as a site of spiritual and somatic refuge rather than a direct commentary on geopolitical emergencies.
Rather than relying on geographic classifications or rigid themes, the exhibition is structured through intuitive, relational “undercurrent priorities.” Its galleries weave together tributes to visionary forebears—such as a dedicated presentation in the Sala Chini honoring Senegalese artist Issa Samb and American artist Beverly Buchanan—alongside immersive spaces geared toward stillness, healing, and somatic deceleration. Focus is also placed on pedagogical models and sustaining artist-run ecosystems, featuring spaces such as Foundation (Lagos, founded by Yinka Shonibare), lugar a dudas (Cali), and Denniston Hill (New York).
Featuring 111 invited participants (comprising 105 individual artists, duos, and collectives alongside six artist-run institutions), the roster marks a deliberate contraction in scale from the 331 artists in Adriano Pedrosa’s 2024 edition. Among the living artists presented are Laurie Anderson, Kader Attia, Sammy Baloji, Alvaro Barrington, Éric Baudelaire, Seyni Awa Camara, Carolina Caycedo, Nolan Oswald Dennis, Torkwase Dyson, Theo Eshetu, Adebumi Gbadebo, Joana Hadjithomas & Khalil Joreige, Ayrson Heráclito, Carsten Höller, Sohrab Hura, Alfredo Jaar, Michael Joo, Nina Katchadourian, Sandra Knecht, Zoe Leonard, Alice Maher, Senzeni Marasela, Wangechi Mutu, Tuấn Andrew Nguyễn, Tammy Nguyen, Otobong Nkanga, Pio Abad, Walid Raad, Tabita Rezaire, Khaled Sabsabi, Cauleen Smith, Kemang Wa Lehulere, and Billie Zangewa.
The main international exhibition noticeably features no Italian artists. While this omission sparked discussion across domestic cultural media, the curatorial team emphasized Kouoh’s focus on transnational affinities and migratory circuits over host-nation quotas.
National Pavilions and Debuts
The 2026 Biennale brings together approximately 100 national representations distributed across 29 historic Giardini pavilions, 25 Arsenale spaces, and 46 decentralized venues throughout the city, alongside 31 official Collateral Events—including the Palestine Museum US presentation titled “______ “ Gaza – No Words – See The Exhibit.
Seven nations are making their Biennale debuts: the Republic of Guinea, Equatorial Guinea, Nauru (curated by Khaled Ramadan), Qatar (featuring Rirkrit Tiravanija, Sophia Al-Maria, Tarek Atoui, and Alia Farid), Sierra Leone, Somalia (presenting Saddexleey), and Vietnam, with El Salvador mounting its first dedicated pavilion. Notable presentations across the national venues include Britain’s Predicting History: Testing Translation by Lubaina Himid, curated by Ese Onojeruo with sound design by Magda Stawarska; the Holy See’s The Ear is the Eye of the Soul; India’s return after a hiatus since 2019 with Geographies of Distance: remembering home, curated by Amin Jaffer; Germany’s presentation pairing Sung Tieu and Henrike Naumann; the Bahamas’ In Another Man’s Yard by John Beadle and Lavar Munroe; alongside presentations by Yto Barrada, Abbas Akhavan (curated by Kim Nguyen), Khaled Sabsabi (curated by Michael Dagostino), Florentina Holzinger (curated by Nora-Swantje Almes), Adriana Varejão and Rosana Paulino (curated by Diane Lima), Dries Verhoeven (Netherlands), Miet Warlop (Belgium), Dana Awartani (Saudi Arabia), Amina Agueznay (Morocco), and Tori Wrånes (Nordic Pavilion).
Boycotts, Resignations, and the ‘Visitors’ Lions’
Despite the exhibition’s emphasis on somatic refuge, institutional and political crises quickly mounted. In March 2026, the Biennale Board approved the return of the Russian Pavilion after absences and loans in 2022 and 2024, arguing the institution should resist cultural censorship and remain accessible to sovereign states recognized by Italy. The move drew condemnation from Italian Culture Minister Alessandro Giuli, who boycotted the vernissage, while the European Commission withheld or terminated a €2 million operating grant over sanctions compliance concerns. Protests—including actions in the Giardini by Pussy Riot—and security assessments prompted the Biennale to bar physical public access to the Russian Pavilion, restricting its group exhibition, The Tree is Rooted in the Sky, to exterior digital screens. Concurrently, campaigns by the Art Not Genocide Alliance (ANGA) targeted the Israeli Pavilion featuring Belu-Simion Fainaru in the Arsenale, spurring protests and temporary closures.
The conflict reached an institutional impasse through the international jury appointed by the Board in April 2026, which was originally suggested by Kouoh: Solange Oliveira Farkas (President), Zoe Butt, Elvira Dyangani Ose, Marta Kuzma, and Giovanna Zapperi. On April 22, the jurors published a “Statement of Intention,” declaring they would not consider entries from nations whose leadership faced active International Criminal Court (ICC) arrest warrants for crimes against humanity, specifically citing Russia and Israel.
Legal counsel and artist Belu-Simion Fainaru issued warnings alleging anti-Semitism and discrimination to the Biennale, the Culture Ministry, and the Prime Minister’s Office. Following an inquiry by Culture Ministry inspectors at Ca’ Giustinian and warnings regarding personal legal liability, all five jurors resigned en masse on April 30, announcing their decision via e-flux.
Rather than seating a replacement jury, the Biennale Foundation scrapped the traditional Golden and Silver Lion jury prizes for 2026. Instead, leadership established the Leoni dei Visitatori (“Visitors’ Lions”) for Best Participant and Best National Participation, determined by ticket holders who validate admissions at both the Giardini and Arsenale to cast a single ballot. The awards ceremony was pushed back from opening week to the exhibition’s final day on November 22, 2026.
The shift to public voting ignited further friction. More than 100 artists—including Laurie Anderson, Walid Raad, and Pio Abad—demanded their names and artworks be stripped from the public ballot in solidarity with the departed jury. Delegations representing 16 national pavilions and at least 81 central exhibition participants withdrew from prize contention altogether. On June 3, 2026, participating artists issued an open letter via e-flux, stating that the Biennale Foundation had disregarded their official withdrawal notices and raising the prospect of legal action. Amidst these unresolved tensions, In Minor Keys continues to welcome audiences through the autumn months.