Koyo Kouah, the Curator of the Venice Biennial of 2026, died at age 58, his native institution in South Africa said in an Instagram post
Rome – Koyo Kouah, the curator of the 2026 Venice Art Biennial, He has died at 58, said his native institution in South Africa at an Instagram post on Saturday.
The Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa in Cabo del Cape in South Africa confirmed his death during the night, but did not give cause of death. The Biennial said on Saturday that he was “deeply sad and dismayed” to know his death.
Kouah was the first African woman struck in elaborating the Venice Biennale. Born in Cameroon in 1967, she was used to cure the 2026 edition of the Biennial in December. An outstanding figure in the promotion of Pan -Africanism worldwide, Kouah had been executive director and chief curator of Zeitz since 2019.
Appointed in December 2024 by the Board of Directors of the Biennial, Kouah worked “with passion, intellectual rigor and vision on the conception and development of the Bienalle Arte 2026,” said the Venice Arts Institution.
The presentation of the title and the issue of the exhibition would be held in Venice on May 20.
“His death leaves an immense emptiness in the world of contemporary art and in the international community of artists, curators and academics who had the privilege of knowing and admiring their extraordinary human and intellectual commitment,” said the biennial.
He extended “her deepest sympathies and affection” to Kouah’s family and friends, and “all those who shared with her a research and critical thinking trip about contemporary art.”
In a statement, the main Giorgia Meloni of Italy expressed on Saturday its “deepest condolences” for the “premature and sudden pass” of Kouah, noting that “leaves a vacuum in the world of contemporary art.”
