Latest news with #RAWMaterialCompany
The Herald
11-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Herald
Zeitz Museum mourns death of chief curator Koyo Kouoh
The Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa on Saturday announced the death of its executive director and chief curator Koyo Kouoh. 'It is with profound sorrow that the trustees of the Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa (Zeitz MOCAA) received news in the early hours of this morning, of the sudden passing of Koyo Kouoh, our beloved executive director and chief curator,' the museum confirmed in posts on Facebook and Instagram. 'Zeitz MOCAA will close its doors today, and all programming will be suspended until further notice. Our thoughts are with Koyo's family at this time.' Kouoh was appointed to the positions in 2019, bringing two decades of experience as an international curator and cultural producer. 'As the founding artistic director of the thought-provoking RAW Material Company, a centre for art, knowledge and society in Dakar, she developed numerous art programmes and published widely on contemporary art,' the museum said at the time. 'She has served as curator of the Educational and Artistic Program of 1:54 Contemporary African Art Fair for eight consecutive editions in London and New York, as well as on the curatorial teams for Documenta 12 and 13.' Kouoh was described at the time as an 'outstanding leader and a passionate visionary who has an exemplary competence and extended network in all capacities of institutional operations with the arts in Africa and globally' by Jochen Zeitz and David Green, co-founders and co-chairs of Zeitz MOCAA. TimesLIVE
eNCA
10-05-2025
- Entertainment
- eNCA
Groundbreaking Cameroonian curator Kouoh dies: Cape Town art museum
CAPE TOWN - Cameroonian curator Koyo Kouoh, the head of the top contemporary art museum in Africa and the first African woman appointed to lead the Venice Biennale, has died Saturday, the Zeitz MOCAA museum said. Born in 1967, Kouoh had headed the Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa (Zeitz MOCAA), in Cape Town, since 2019. She was chosen last year to curate the next Biennale -- one of the world's most important contemporary art shows -- opening in May 2026. The Zeitz MOCAA "received news in the early hours of this morning, of the sudden passing of Koyo Kouoh, our beloved Executive Director and Chief Curator", the museum said on social media. "Out of respect", the museum's programming will be "suspended until further notice", it added. The Venice Biennale said in a statement it was "deeply saddened and dismayed" to learn of Kouoh's "sudden and untimely passing". Only the second African to head the legendary art show after the late Nigerian art critic Okwui Enwezor, Kouoh had been working "with passion, intellectual rigor and vision" on the conception of the 2026 edition, it said. She had been due to present the title and theme in Venice on May 20 this year. "Her passing leaves an immense void in the world of contemporary art," the Biennale said. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni expressed her "deep sorrow" for the curator's "premature" death. - Pan-Africanism - Brought up between the Cameroon coastal city of Douala and Switzerland, Kouoh set up a cutting-edge art centre -- the RAW Material Company -- in Dakar, Senegal. On Saturday, the centre paid its own tribute to her, describing Kouoh as a "source of warmth, generosity and brilliance" who "always stated that people are more important than things". As head of the Zeitz MOCAA, she positioned the museum at the cutting edge of contemporary art by championing Pan-Africanism and promoting artists from the continent and its diaspora. Focusing on African art was a "no-brainer" as the narrative around the continent was still largely "defined by others", Kouoh told AFP in an interview in 2023. "Africa is for me an idea that goes beyond borders. It's a history that goes beyond borders," she said. When announcing her appointment to the Biennale in December last year, its president Pietrangelo Buttafuoco had hailed her as a "curator, scholar and influential public figure" who would bring the "most refined, young and disruptive intelligences" to the sprawling 130-year-old exhibition. jcb/jj
Int'l Business Times
10-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Int'l Business Times
Groundbreaking Cameroonian Curator Kouoh Dies: Cape Town Art Museum
Cameroonian curator Koyo Kouoh, the head of the top contemporary art museum in Africa and first African woman appointed to lead the Venice Biennale, has died Saturday, the Zeitz MOCAA museum said. Born in 1967, Kouoh had headed the Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa (Zeitz MOCAA), in South Africa's Cape Town, since 2019. She was chosen last year to curate the next Biennale -- one of the world's most important contemporary art shows -- opening in May 2026. The Zeitz MOCAA "received news in the early hours of this morning, of the sudden passing of Koyo Kouoh, our beloved Executive Director and Chief Curator", the museum said on social media. "Out of respect", the museum's programming will be "suspended until further notice", it added. The Venice Biennale said in a statement it was "deeply saddened and dismayed" to learn of Kouoh's "sudden and untimely passing". Only the second African to head the legendary art show after the late Nigerian art critic Okwui Enwezor, Kouoh had been working "with passion, intellectual rigor and vision" on the conception of the 2026 edition, it said. She had been due to present the title and theme in Venice on May 20 this year. "Her passing leaves an immense void in the world of contemporary art," the Biennale said. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni expressed her "deep sorrow" for the curator's "premature" death. Brought up between the Cameroon coastal city of Douala and Switzerland, Kouoh set up a cutting-edge art centre -- the RAW Material Company -- in Dakar, Senegal. On Saturday, the centre paid its own tribute to her, describing Kouoh as a "source of warmth, generosity and brilliance" who "always stated that people are more important than things". As head of the Zeitz MOCAA, she positioned the museum at the cutting edge of contemporary art by championing Pan-Africanism and promoting artists from the continent and its diaspora. Focusing on African art was a "no-brainer" as the narrative around the continent was still largely "defined by others", Kouoh told AFP in an interview in 2023. "Africa is for me an idea that goes beyond borders. It's a history that goes beyond borders," she said. When announcing her appointment to the Biennale in December last year, its president Pietrangelo Buttafuoco had hailed her as a "curator, scholar and influential public figure" who would bring the "most refined, young and disruptive intelligences" to the sprawling 130-year-old exhibition. The RAW Material Company, which she founded in Senegal, remembered her as 'source of warmth, generosity and brilliance' AFP
