Kouoh’s framework proposed a Biennale that “refuses orchestral bombast,” inviting viewers to slow down and inhabit moments of contemplation. Photo by AVZ. Courtesy of La Biennale di Venezia.
After the sudden and tragic passing of curator Koyo Kouoh, it was unclear whether the 2026 Venice Biennale would go ahead and, if so, whether it would still reflect her vision. Ultimately, the organizing body chose to move ahead with Kouoh’s curatorial concept “as she designed it, as she imagined it,” president Pietrangelo Buttafuoco said at a May 2025 press conference. Today (Feb. 25), La Biennale announced the 111 artists who will take part in the 61st edition of the longest-running and most important international exhibition. The list is truly global and expansive, with names well known in international art circles, particularly within the institutional system, alongside more regionally rooted pioneers. Yet the former are notably more prominently represented, suggesting “In Minor Keys” will lean less toward marginal or historically overlooked voices outside the system and more firmly toward the contemporary art discourse of the present moment.
While the selection leans visibly toward institutional, socially engaged and research-based practices, many of the included artists are represented by established galleries and maintain an active presence in the commercial ecosystem. And although throughout her career Kouoh tirelessly championed African artists—becoming the first woman from the continent selected to curate the Venice Biennale—the list of 2026 Biennale artists reflects a more balanced and globally distributed constellation of voices, positioning the continent as an integral presence within a wider interconnected field of discourse addressing shared concerns. As for historical figures, the Biennale will celebrate the rebel genius of Marcel Duchamp in what is shaping up to be an especially high-profile year for the avant-garde artist, with major surveys scheduled at the Museum of Modern Art and the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
The 2026 Venice Biennale artists will each respond to Kouoh’s “In Minor Keys”—a concept carried forward by the multicultural team of advisors who worked closely with her from the outset, including curators Gabe Beckhurst Feijoo, Marie Hélène Pereira and Rasha Salti, critic and editor-in-chief Siddhartha Mitter and assistant Rory Tsapayi. Kouoh had already submitted a full and comprehensive proposal before her death, writing in her curatorial essay that the exhibition she envisioned was going to be “a polyphonous assembly of art… convening and communing in convivial collectivity, beaming across the void of alienation and the crackle of conflict.” She also clarified that the 2026 Biennale would be “neither a litany of commentary on world events, nor an escape from compounding or continuously intersecting crises.”
What to expect from “In Minor Keys”
As the musically inspired title suggests, the curatorial framework for the upcoming edition of the biennial promises intimate and introspective moments of listening, contemplation and exchange, encouraging a form of embodied transpersonal understanding capable of countering the overwhelming overstimulation and saturation of our time. According to Rasha Salti, Kouoh envisioned a Biennale that “refuses orchestral bombast,” rejecting both the grandiosity of major global art events and society’s performative behaviors in favor of a call to decelerate—to “take a deep breath. Exhale. Drop your shoulders. And close your eyes.”
“The artists are channels to the minor keys,” said curatorial team member Rory Tsapayi during the announcement press conference, describing them as a collective score composed of practices operating at the boundaries of form. “These are artists whose practices seamlessly bleed into society.” Gabe Beckhurst Feijoo emphasized that the structure is “not abstractly determined… it is not organised in sections but in respect to undercurrent priorities.” The exhibition will unfold across thematic strands spanning the Arsenale and the Giardini: Shrines, Procession/Invocation, Schools, Enchantment, Physical and Spiritual Rest, the Threshold and the Creole Garden. In the Central Pavilion, “The Shrines” will create a suspended, sanctuary-like space, paying tribute to the late Senegalese artist Issa Samb and the late African American artist Beverly Buchanan.
Artists whose work resonates with the motif of Procession/Invocation include Nick Cave, Alvaro Barrington, Daniel Lind-Ramos, Ebony G. Patterson, Johannes Phokela, Tammy Nguyen and Kenya’s Kaloki Nyamai. “Visitors are invited to become part of these assemblies,” said curator Marie Hélène Pereira, underscoring the participatory dimension of this strand. “The Schools” section will foreground collective practices and organizations dedicated to sustaining artistic networks, including the Nairobi Contemporary Art Institute, the G.A.S. Foundation in Lagos founded by Yinka Shonibare and Denniston Hill in New York State. It reflects an approach that is becoming increasingly common among artists, particularly in emerging scenes, as a way to withstand the pressures of global circuits. “Performance and innovation” is another key curatorial thread, but there will also be space for more immaterial forms of art. Drawing inspiration from Kouoh’s Poetry Caravan, a 1999 voyage of nine African poets that she curated, a procession of poets will take place in the Giardini. “Poetry was to her the guiding light of curatorial gesture,” said Salti.
Special mention during the announcement conference was given to the catalogue, which will intentionally highlight a “collaborative mode of making,” as Siddhartha Mitter explained. Each artist will be featured in a four-page spread including sketches and photographs foregrounding studio spaces and working processes.
“I am tired. People are tired. We are all tired. The world is tired. Even art itself is tired,” wrote Kouoh in a 2022 text—evidence that she had long been aware of the need for a shift in how art is produced, circulated and experienced if it is to retain impact in today’s world. This was something she sought to pursue with this Biennale. “Perhaps the time has come. We need something else,” she wrote. “We need to heal. We need to laugh. We need to be with beauty, and lots of it. We need to play, we need to be with poetry. We need to be with love again. We need to dance. We need to rest and restore. We need to breathe. We need the radicality of joy. The time has come.”
“Can an exhibition on the scale of the Biennale offer a place to rest your body?” Rory Tsapayi asked during the conference, explaining how certain sections and clusters aim to create space for collective rituals of contemplation and embodied reconnection. Works by Wangechi Mutu, Otobong Nkanga, Carsten Höller and Sandra Knecht in the Creole Garden will help generate relational and spiritual currents between humans and other species.
With its focus on socially engaged and research-driven practices oriented toward a transpersonal conversation, the 2026 Venice Biennale promises to set the tone for broader collective reflection on the state of human existence in relation to everything else at this stage of civilization, encouraging shared practices of reflection and reconnection between individuals and the larger wholes to which they belong.
The full list of 2026 Venice Biennale artists
Pio Abad
Born 1983 in Manila, Philippines. Lives in London, U.K.
Philip Aguirre y Otegui
Born 1961 in Schoten, Belgium. Lives in Antwerp, Belgium.
Akinbode Akinbiyi
Born 1946 in Oxford, U.K. Lives in Berlin, Germany.
Laurie Anderson
Born 1947 in Chicago, IL, USA. Lives in New York City, NY, U.S.A.
Fabrice Aragno
Born 1970 in Neuchâtel, Switzerland. Lives in Lausanne, Switzerland.
Nancy Brooks Brody
Born 1962 in New York City, NY, USA. Lives in New York City, NY, U.S.A.
Joy Episalla
Born 1957 in Bronxville, NY, USA. Lives in New York City, NY, U.S.A.
Zoe Leonard
Born 1961 in Liberty, NY, USA. Lives in New York City, NY, U.S.A.
Carrie Yamaoka
Born 1957 in Glen Cove, NY, USA. Lives in New York City, NY, U.S.A.
Jo-ey Tang
Born 1978 in Hong Kong, China. Lives in New York City, NY, U.S.A.
Kader Attia
Born 1970 in Dugny, France. Lives in Berlin, Germany and Paris, France.
Sammy Baloji
Born 1978 in Lubumbashi, Democratic Republic of the Congo. Lives in Brussels, Belgium and Lubumbashi, Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Ranti Bam
Born 1985 in Lagos, Nigeria. Lives in Paris, France and Lagos, Nigeria.
Alvaro Barrington
Born 1983 in Caracas, Venezuela. Lives in London, U.K.
Éric Baudelaire
Born 1973 in Salt Lake City, UT, USA. Lives in Paris, France.
Sabian Baumann
Born 1962 in Zug, Switzerland. Lives in Zurich, Switzerland.
Beverly Buchanan
Born 1940 in Fuquay, NC, U.S.A. Lives in the U.S.A.
Seyni Awa Camara
Born 1945 in Oussouy, Senegal. Lives in Senegal.
Nick Cave
Born 1959 in Chicago, IL, U.S.A. Lives in Chicago, IL, U.S.A.
Carolina Caycedo
Born 1978 in London, U.K. Lives in Los Angeles, CA, U.S.A. and Caguas, Puerto Rico.
Annalee Davis
Born 1963 in St. Michael, Barbados. Lives in St. George, Barbados.
BuBu de la Madeleine
Born 1961 in Osaka, Japan. Lives in Nara, Japan.
Dawn DeDeaux
Born 1952 in New Orleans, LA, U.S.A. Lives in New Orleans, LA, U.S.A.
Nolan Oswald Dennis
Born 1988 in Lusaka, Zambia. Lives in Johannesburg, South Africa.
Bonnie Devine
Born 1952 in Toronto, Canada. Lives in Toronto, Canada.
Godfried Donkor
Born 1964 in Accra, Ghana. Lives in London, U.K. and Accra, Ghana.
Marcel Duchamp
Born 1887 in Blainville-Crevon, France. Lives in France.
Edouard Duval-Carrié
Born 1954 in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Lives in Miami, FL, U.S.A.
Torkwase Dyson
Born 1973 in Chicago, IL, USA. Lives in Beacon, NY, U.S.A.
rana elnemr
Born 1974 in Hannover, Germany. Lives in Cairo, Egypt.
Theo Eshetu
Born 1958 in London, U.K. Lives in Berlin, Germany and Rome, Italy.
Rachel Fallon
Born 1971 in Dublin, Ireland. Lives in Dublin, Ireland.
Sofía Gallisá Muriente
Born 1986 in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Lives in Puerto Rico.
Adebunmi Gbadebo
Born 1992 in Livingston, NJ, U.S.A. Lives in Philadelphia, PA, USA and Newark, NJ, U.S.A.
Leonilda González
Born 1923 in Minuano, Uruguay. Lives in Uruguay.
Linda Goode Bryant
Born 1949 in Columbus, OH, U.S.A. Lives in New York City, NY, U.S.A.
Joana Hadjithomas
Born 1969 in Beirut, Lebanon. Lives in Beirut, Lebanon and Paris, France.
Khalil Joreige
Born 1969 in Moussaitbeh, Lebanon. Lives in Beirut, Lebanon and Paris, France.
Alexa Kumiko Hatanaka
Born 1988 in Toronto, Canada. Lives in Toronto, Canada, New York City, NY, U.S.A. and Japan.
Ayrson Heráclito
Born 1968 in Macaúbas, Bahia, Brazil. Lives in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil.
Clarissa Herbst
Born 1959 in Crailsheim, Germany. Lives in Zurich, Switzerland.
Dominique Rust
Born 1960 in Basel, Switzerland. Lives in Zurich, Switzerland.
Nicholas Hlobo
Born 1975 in Cape Town, South Africa. Lives in Johannesburg, South Africa.
Carsten Höller
Born 1961 in Brussels, Belgium. Lives in Stockholm, Sweden, Biriwa, Ghana and Tuscany, Italy.
Sohrab Hura
Born 1981 in Chinsurah, India. Lives in New Delhi, India.
Alfredo Jaar
Born 1965 in Santiago, Chile. Lives in Lisbon, Portugal.
Mohammed Joha
Born 1978 in Gaza, Palestine. Lives in Marseille, France.
Michael Joo
Born 1966 in Ithaca, NY, U.S.A. Lives in New York City, NY, U.S.A.
Nina Katchadourian
Born 1968 in Stanford, CA, U.S.A. Lives in New York City, NY, U.S.A. and Berlin, Germany.
Bodys Isek Kingelez
Born 1948 in Kimbembele Ihunga, Democratic Republic of the Congo. Lives in Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Sandra Knecht
Born 1968 in Buus, Switzerland. Lives in Buus, Switzerland.
Marcia Kure
Born 1970 in Kano State, Nigeria. Lives in Princeton, NJ, USA, Abuja and Kaduna, Nigeria.
Natalia Lassalle-Morillo
Born 1991 in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Lives in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
Florence Lazar
Born 1966 in Paris, France. Lives in Paris, France.
Dan Lie
Born 1988. Lives in Berlin, Germany.
Werewere Liking
Born 1950 in Mgombas, Cameroon. Lives in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire.
Daniel Lind-Ramos
Born 1953 in Loiza, Puerto Rico. Lives in Loiza, Puerto Rico.
Alice Maher
Born 1956 in Tipperary, Ireland. Lives in County Mayo, Ireland.
Maria Magdalena Campos-Pons
Born 1959 in Matanzas, Cuba. Lives in Nashville, TN, U.S.A.
Kamaal Malak
Born 1962 in Philadelphia, PA, U.S.A. Lives in Nashville, TN, U.S.A.
Senzeni Marasela
Born 1977 in Thokoza, South Africa. Lives in Johannesburg, South Africa.
Guadalupe Maravilla
Born 1976 in San Salvador, El Salvador. Lives in New York City, NY, U.S.A.
Manuel Mathieu
Born 1986 in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Lives in Montreal, Canada and Paris, France.
Georgina Maxim
Born 1980 in Harare, Zimbabwe. Lives in Harare and Mutare, Zimbabwe.
Tiona Nekkia McClodden
Born 1981 in Blytheville, AR, U.S.A. Lives in Philadelphia, PA, U.S.A.
Big Chief Demond Melancon
Born 1978 in New Orleans, LA, U.S.A. Lives in New Orleans, LA, U.S.A.
Avi Mograbi
Born 1956 in Tel Aviv, Israel. Lives in Lisbon, Portugal.
Wangechi Mutu
Born 1972 in Nairobi, Kenya. Lives in New York City, NY, U.S.A. and Nairobi, Kenya.
Eustaquio Neves
Born 1955 in Juatuba, Brazil. Lives in Diamantina, Brazil.
Tuấn Andrew Nguyễn
Born 1976 in Sài Gòn, Việt Nam. Lives in Hội An, Việt Nam.
Tammy Nguyen
Born 1984 in San Francisco, CA, U.S.A. Lives in Easton, CT, U.S.A.
Otobong Nkanga
Born 1974 in Kano, Nigeria. Lives in Antwerp, Belgium and Uyo, Nigeria.
Kaloki Nyamai
Born 1985 in Nairobi, Kenya. Lives in Nairobi, Kenya.
Temitayo Ogunbiyi
Born 1984 in Rochester, NY, U.S.A. Lives in Lagos, Nigeria.
Pauline Oliveros
Born 1932 in Houston, TX, U.S.A. Lives in the USA.
Kambui Olujimi
Born 1976 in Brooklyn, New York City, NY, U.S.A. Lives in New York City, NY, U.S.A.
Hagar Ophir
Born 1983 in Jerusalem. Lives in Berlin, Germany.
Uriel Orlow
Born 1973 in Zurich, Switzerland. Lives in Lisbon, Portugal, London, U.K. and Basel, Switzerland.
Ebony G. Patterson
Born 1981 in Kingston, Jamaica. Lives in Kingston, Jamaica and Chicago, IL, U.S.A.
Rajni Perera
Born 1985 in Colombo, Sri Lanka. Lives in Toronto, Canada.
Marigold Santos
Born 1981 in Manila, Philippines. Lives in Calgary, Canada.
Thania Petersen
Born 1980 in Cape Town, South Africa. Lives in Cape Town, South Africa.
Alan Phelan
Born 1968 in Dublin, Ireland. Lives in Dublin, Ireland.
Johannes Phokela
Born 1966 in Johannesburg, South Africa. Lives in Johannesburg, South Africa.
Léonard Pongo
Born 1988 in Liège, Belgium. Lives in Brussels, Belgium and Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Walid Raad
Born 1967 in Chbanieh, Lebanon. Lives in Medusa, NY, U.S.A.
Mohammed Z. Rahman
Born 1997 in London, U.K. Lives in London, U.K.
Tabita Rezaire
Born 1989 in Paris, France. Lives in Cayenne, French Guiana.
Guadalupe Rosales
Born 1980 in Redwood City, CA, U.S.A. Lives in Los Angeles, CA, U.S.A.
Yo-E Ryou
Born 1987 in Seoul, South Korea. Lives in Seoul and Jeju Island, South Korea.
Khaled Sabsabi
Born 1965 in Tripoli, Lebanon. Lives in Sydney, Australia.
Rose Salane
Born 1992 in New York City, NY, U.S.A. Lives in New York City, NY, U.S.A.
Issa Samb
Born 1945 in Dakar, Senegal. Lives in Senegal.
Amina Saoudi Aït Khay
Born 1955 in Casablanca, Morocco. Lives in Sousse, Tunisia.
Carrie Schneider
Born 1979 in Chicago, IL, U.S.A. Lives in New York City, NY, U.S.A.
Hala Schoukair
Born 1957 in Beirut, Lebanon. Lives in Beirut, Lebanon.
Berni Searle
Born 1964 in Cape Town, South Africa. Lives in Cape Town, South Africa.
Mmakgabo Mmapula Helen Sebidi
Born 1943 in Marapyane, South Africa. Lives in Johannesburg, South Africa.
Wardha Shabbir
Born 1987 in Lahore, Pakistan. Lives in Lahore, Pakistan.
Yoshiko Shimada
Born 1959 in Tokyo, Japan. Lives in Chiba, Japan.
Himali Singh Soin
Born 1987 in New Delhi, India. Lives in London, U.K. and New Delhi, India.
David Soin Tappeser
Born 1985 in Bonn, Germany. Lives in London, U.K. and New Delhi, India.
Buhlebezwe Siwani
Born 1987 in Johannesburg, South Africa. Lives in Amsterdam, Netherlands and Cape Town, South Africa.
Cauleen Smith
Born 1967 in Riverside, CA, U.S.A. Lives in Los Angeles, CA, U.S.A.
Vera Tamari
Born 1944 in Jerusalem, Palestine. Lives in Ramallah, Palestine.
Tsai Ming-liang
Born 1957 in Kuching, Malaysia. Lives in New Taipei City and Taipei, Taiwan.
Victoria-Idongesit Udondian
Born 1982 in Uyo, Nigeria. Lives in Lagos, Nigeria and New York City, NY, U.S.A.
Celia Vásquez Yui
Born 1960 in Pucallpa, Peru. Lives in Pucallpa, Peru.
Kemang Wa Lehulere
Born 1984 in Cape Town, South Africa. Lives in Cape Town, South Africa.
Kennedy Yanko
Born 1988 in St. Louis, MO, U.S.A. Lives in Miami, FL, U.S.A.
Raed Yassin
Born 1979 in Beirut, Lebanon. Lives in Beirut, Lebanon and Berlin, Germany.
Sawangwongse Yawnghwe
Born 1971 in Shan State, Myanmar. Lives in Zutphen, Netherlands and Chiang Mai, Thailand.
Billie Zangewa
Born 1973 in Blantyre, Malawi. Lives in Johannesburg, South Africa.
