Koyo Kouoh, curator of the 61st International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia, Biennale Arte 2026, has died, aged 58, it was announced on Saturday. +Get the most important news from Switzerland in your inbox "La Biennale di Venezia is deeply saddened and dismayed to learn of the sudden and untimely passing of Koyo Kouoh, curator of the 61st International Art Exhibition, scheduled to open on 9 May 2026," the institution said in a statement on Saturday. Her “sudden and untimely passing” leaves an immense void in the world of contemporary art and in the international community of artists, curators, and scholars “who had the privilege of knowing and admiring her extraordinary human and intellectual commitment”, it said. For the past six years, Koyo Kouoh, who grew up between Douala in Cameroon and Zurich, has headed one of the leading contemporary art museums on the African continent, the Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa (MOCAA), and founded an art centre in Dakar, Senegal.
