In Minor Keys: carrying Koyo Kouoh’s vision forward

A curatorial vision can continue through the people entrusted with it. The 2026 Venice Biennale’s In Minor Keys was conceived by Koyo Kouoh, who died in 2025, and realised by her team. That distinction matters when reading previews written in the exhibition’s name.

WAYFARER Brazil’s March 2026 account introduced the theme alongside national pavilions and collateral projects. The Biennale’s own documentation makes clear that this is a posthumous realisation, not a programme directed by Kouoh in person during its opening year.

The official introduction places attention, poetry and collective experience at the centre of the exhibition. Architecture is part of that proposition. Wolff Architects, based in Cape Town, developed a spatial language that uses indigo elements and thresholds to organise encounters across the principal venues.

For a reader planning how to approach such an expansive exhibition, the title provides a better starting point than a competitive list of attractions. A minor key is not a diminished ambition. It suggests another register in which relationships can become perceptible. The exhibition’s authorship also remains plural: a clear originating vision, carried forward through the work and judgement of others.

Curatorial context checked against La Biennale’s introduction.

---

Adapted from the WAYFARER Brazil archive, first published 2026-03-24. English adaptation: 6 October 2026. This is an archival account, not a report of a new visit. Exhibitions, collections and menu details are described in their original context, not as current availability.