Koyo Kouoh, Cameroonian curator and director of Zeitz MOCAA, has been named the first African woman to lead the Venice Biennale in 2026. Her historic appointment brings a bold Pan-African vision to one of the world's premier art events.
Cameroonian curator Koyo Kouoh has been named the first African woman to lead the Venice Biennale, one of the world’s most renowned contemporary art events.
At 57 years old, Kouoh has been the Executive Director and Chief Curator of the Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa (Zeitz MOCAA) in Cape Town since 2019. She will curate the next edition of the Biennale in 2026.
Biennale President Pietrangelo Buttafuoco hailed her as a "curator, scholar, and influential public figure" who will bring "the most refined, young, and disruptive intelligences" to the 130-year-old event, which attracts hundreds of thousands of art lovers to Venice every two years.
Before her tenure at Zeitz MOCAA, Africa’s leading contemporary art museum, Kouoh founded the RAW Material Company in Dakar, Senegal. She grew up between Douala, a coastal city in Cameroon, and Switzerland.
Kouoh described the appointment as a "once-in-a-lifetime honor" and an opportunity to lead "this mythical site to feel the pulse of the zeitgeist." She expressed hope that her exhibition would "carry meaning for the world we live in today, and most importantly, for the world we want to create."
Only the second African to head the Biennale, following Nigerian art critic Okwui Enwezor in 2015, Kouoh is celebrated as a champion of Pan-Africanism.
In Cape Town, Kouoh quickly established her reputation through daring programs that highlighted the work of artists from across the continent and its diaspora. "For me, Africa is an idea that transcends borders, a history that goes beyond geographical limits," she shared with AFP last year.
She has also argued that countries like Brazil, Cuba, and Haiti should be considered part of the African story. "The African diasporic influence in the U.S. is undeniable," she said. "That’s why I prefer talking about black geographies rather than African diasporas—places where black culture, black bodies, and black people have shaped society."
The Biennale stated that Kouoh’s appointment was made "on the recommendation" of Pietrangelo Buttafuoco, a Sicilian intellectual and the current president of the Biennale board, appointed with the backing of Italy’s far-right Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.
With her bold vision and commitment to amplifying African narratives, Koyo Kouoh is poised to redefine the Venice Biennale and leave a lasting mark on its legacy.
With AFP
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