Latest news with #InMinorKeys
Time Out
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Time Out
Zeitz MOCAA honours late chief curator Koyo Kouoh
The Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa (MOCAA) in Cape Town will close its doors on Thursday to honour the life and legacy of its Executive Director and Chief Curator, Koyo Kouoh, who passed away unexpectedly on 10 May in Switzerland. Kouoh was a towering figure in contemporary art and known as a visionary, cultural leader and a fierce advocate for African and Afro-diasporic artistic expression. Appointed in 2019, she led Zeitz MOCAA through a transformative period, redefining the museum's curatorial voice and positioning it as a globally recognised platform for contemporary African art. Her sudden passing came just months after she made history as the first African Artistic Director of the Venice Biennale, where she was curating the 61st edition titled 'In Minor Keys', scheduled to open in May 2026. The Biennale has confirmed that Kouoh's vision will still shape the exhibition, to be realised by her core team. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Zeitz MOCAA (@zeitzmocaa) In a tribute shared via LinkedIn, David Green, CEO of the V&A Waterfront and Trustee of Zeitz MOCAA, said, 'It has been with shock and a profound sadness that I received news of the sudden passing of Koyo… In getting to know Koyo over the years since her acceptance of the job to lead Zeitz MOCAA, I, in the role of Trustee and Co-Chair of the museum, had come to appreciate a true sense of her love for what art and artists bring to the world. 'She held an intense conviction that elevating African art was her calling and she extended herself to creating spaces and relationships that would make this possible. Her passing is untimely, and I am going to miss her counsel and friendship immensely,' said Green. Tribute Details for Koyo Kouoh Date: Thursday, 29 May 2025 Time: 4 PM (SAST)
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Venice Art Biennale to honour late curator Koyo Kouoh with 2026 exhibition ‘In Minor Keys'
The curatorial vision for the 61st Venice Biennale, 'In Minor Keys', was revealed in Venice today in an emotional presentation at the Sala delle Colonne of Ca' Giustinian, the Biennale's historic headquarters. Originally set for announcement later this year, the theme was unveiled ahead of schedule following the sad and unexpected death of the exhibition's curator, Koyo Kouoh, on 10 May. A leading figure in promoting Pan-Africanism throughout the art world, Kouoh had served as executive director and chief curator at the Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa in Cape Town, South Africa since 2019. She earned global acclaim for curating the 2022 exhibition When We See Us: A Century of Black Figuration in Painting, a monumental historical show inspired by Ava DuVernay's Netflix miniseries When They See Us, and became the first African woman invited to lead the Venice Art Biennale in December 2024. Related Koyo Kouoh, 2026 Venice Art Biennale curator, dies suddenly aged 58 Bahrain wins top prize at Venice Architecture Biennale with a pavilion tackling extreme heat With the support of Kouoh's family, La Biennale di Venezia confirmed it will proceed with the 2026 exhibition exactly as she conceived it, in what will now be a posthumous tribute to her life's work. As they noted, the edition will explore the spaces in which minor keys operate, to conceive "an exhibition that invites listening to the persistent signals of earth and life, connecting to soul frequencies. If in music, the minor keys are often associated with strangeness, melancholy, and sorrow, here their joy, solace, hope, and transcendence manifest as well." Scheduled to run from 9 May to 22 November 2026, 'In Minor Keys' will take place across the Giardini, the Arsenale, and various venues throughout Venice. The full list of participating artists, the exhibition's visual identity, and national pavilions will be officially announced at a press conference on 25 February 2026.
New York Times
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- New York Times
After Curator's Death, Venice Biennale Will Realize Her Vision
The organizers of the Venice Biennale announced on Tuesday that next year's edition would go ahead as planned, despite the sudden death this month of Koyo Kouoh, the curator who was overseeing its main exhibition. Kouoh died of cancer on May 10, just days before she was scheduled to reveal the title and theme of the event. Cristiana Costanzo, a Biennale spokeswoman, told reporters at a news conference in Venice that next year's edition would run from May 9 through Nov. 22, and that a team of curators, art historians and editors who had been working with Kouoh would deliver her exhibition 'as she conceived and defined it.' Kouoh had been preparing the exhibition for almost seven months, Costanzo said: Working with a five-member team, she had selected some of the participating artists and artworks, and given it a title, 'In Minor Keys.' During Tuesday's news conference, members of the team used Kouoh's words to present her plan. Gabe Beckhurst Feijoo, an art historian from the team, said that Kouoh had wanted her Biennale to be 'neither a litany of commentary on world events, nor an inattention or escape from compounding and continuously intersecting crises.' Instead, Beckhurst Feijoo said, Kouoh had wanted to present 'a radical reconnection with art's natural habitat and role in society — that is the emotional, the visual, the sensory, the affective, the subjective.' Another team member, Marie Helene Pereira, a curator, explained the exhibition title. 'If in music, the minor keys are often associated with strangeness, melancholy and sorrow,' she said, in Kouoh's exhibition, they would also be associated with 'joy, solace, hope and transcendence.' The team did not reveal the names of the artists who would appear in the show, although it said the main exhibition would include poetry and film. Costanzo said the Biennale would announce the full list of participating artists on Feb. 25, 2026. In the lead-up to this announcement, the Venice Biennale curator usually spends months traveling the world, visiting artists' studios as the roster comes together. The presentation on Tuesday took place in front of a slide show of photographs that Kouoh and her team had taken on such journeys, including many that appeared to have been taken in Africa, Asia and South America. Kouoh's team did not refer to the images during the presentation, but Costanzo said later in an email that 'the slide show was intended to communicate moods around the conceptualizing of the exhibition.' All five members of Kouoh's team were unavailable for interview, Costanzo said. First held in 1895, the Venice Biennale is one of the art world's most important events, and every edition includes a large-scale group show, organized by a curator, alongside dozens of national pavilions that participating countries stage independently. When the Biennale's organizers asked Kouoh to oversee the main exhibition, she was the first African woman to receive such an invitation. She had made a name for herself as the chief curator of the Zeitz MOCAA in Cape Town, though she also worked on the curatorial teams of several major international exhibitions, including two editions of Documenta in Germany. She was 57 when she died. In an interview with The New York Times in December, Kouoh said that she had wanted to make an 'artist-centered' exhibition that 'really speaks to our times.' She added: 'The artists will define where we go.' Tuesday's presentation ended with a reading of a poem that Kouoh wrote in 2022 and had wanted to present at the news conference. 'I am tired, people are tired, we are all tired,' her poem began: 'Even art itself is tired.' 'We need to be with beauty,' Kouoh wrote, 'and lots of it.'
Euronews
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Euronews
Venice Biennale to honour late curator Koyo Kouoh with 2026 exhibition
The curatorial vision for the 61st Venice Biennale, 'In Minor Keys', was revealed in Venice today in an emotional presentation at the Sala delle Colonne of Ca' Giustinian, the Biennale's historic headquarters. Originally set for announcement later this year, the theme was unveiled ahead of schedule following the sad and unexpected death of the exhibition's curator, Koyo Kouoh, on 10 May. A leading figure in promoting Pan-Africanism throughout the art world, Kouoh had served as executive director and chief curator at the Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa in Cape Town, South Africa since 2019. She earned global acclaim for curating the 2022 exhibition When We See Us: A Century of Black Figuration in Painting, a monumental historical show inspired by Ava DuVernay's Netflix miniseries When They See Us, and became the first African woman invited to lead the Venice Art Biennale in December 2024. With the support of Kouoh's family, La Biennale di Venezia confirmed it will proceed with the 2026 exhibition exactly as she conceived it, in what will now be a posthumous tribute to her life's work. As they noted, the edition will explore the spaces in which minor keys operate, to conceive "an exhibition that invites listening to the persistent signals of earth and life, connecting to soul frequencies. If in music, the minor keys are often associated with strangeness, melancholy, and sorrow, here their joy, solace, hope, and transcendence manifest as well." Scheduled to run from 9 May to 22 November 2026, 'In Minor Keys' will take place across the Giardini, the Arsenale, and various venues throughout Venice. The full list of participating artists, the exhibition's visual identity, and national pavilions will be officially announced at a press conference on 25 February 2026.
