Koyo Kouoh, a renowned curator and champion of African artists, has died at the age of 57, just months after her historic appointment as the first African woman to curate the Venice Biennale. Kouoh’s death was announced by the Biennale in a statement, which expressed its deep sadness and acknowledged her “extraordinary human and intellectual commitment” to the art world.
“Koyo Kouoh worked with passion, intellectual rigor, and vision on the conception and development of the Biennale Arte 2026,” the organization said. “Her passing leaves an immense void in the world of contemporary art and in the international community of artists, curators, and scholars who had the privilege of knowing and admiring her.”
A Legacy of Championing African Artists
Born in Douala, Cameroon, in 1967, Kouoh moved to Switzerland at 13 and later founded RAW Material Company, an independent art center in Dakar, Senegal. She joined the Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa (Zeitz MOCAA) in Cape Town in 2016, serving as curator and executive director, where she became a leading advocate for Black artists from Africa and beyond.
“Kouoh did not leave a title for the Biennale, but she did leave a grammar: the urgency to rewrite the rules of the curatorial game,” wrote Artuu, an Italian art magazine, in its obituary. “Koyo Kouoh’s theoretical legacy… does not propose new aesthetic models to frame, but undermines the very foundations of cultural hierarchy.”
Tributes and Condolences
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni expressed her deep condolences for Kouoh’s untimely death, while Pietrangelo Buttafuoco, the Biennale’s president, praised her “refined, young, and disruptive intelligence” in a press statement. Kouoh had described her appointment as a “once-in-a-lifetime honor and privilege,” and expressed hope that her exhibition would “carry meaning for the world we currently live in — and most importantly, for the world we want to make.”
The Venice Biennale has confirmed that the conference scheduled for May 20 will still take place, but the impact of Kouoh’s death on the event remains to be seen. As the art world mourns the loss of this trailblazing curator, her legacy continues to inspire and challenge the norms of the curatorial game.