61st International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia “In Minor Keys” curated by Koyo Kouoh will run from Saturday 9 May to Sunday 22 November 2026 at the Giardini, the Arsenale and in various locations around Venice.
The Exhibition unfolds in the wake of the passing of Koyo Kouoh on 10 May 2025. With the agreement and support of her family, La Biennale di Venezia has confirmed that the 61st International Art Exhibition will proceed in alignment with the curatorial vision Kouoh developed over the course of her appointment. The Exhibition is presented as an act of continuity, carrying forward the intellectual, ethical, and artistic framework she articulated and refined until the final weeks of her work.
Koyo Kouoh accepted the invitation of the President of La Biennale di Venezia, Pietrangelo Buttafuoco, on 17 October 2024, to assume the role of Artistic Director of the Visual Arts Department and to curate the 61st International Art Exhibition. Her appointment was approved by the Board of Directors on 5 November 2024 and formally announced on 3 December 2024, following the close of the 60th International Art Exhibition curated by Adriano Pedrosa.
Between autumn 2024 and early May 2025, Kouoh dedicated herself to developing the Exhibition’s conceptual framework, selecting artists and works, shaping its visual and spatial identity, and worked in sustained dialogue with the invited artists, a process that informed both the structure and tone of the project.
In Minor Keys
In Minor Keys is the title chosen by Koyo Kouoh for the 61st International Art Exhibition. The project articulates a curatorial approach grounded in attentiveness to nuance, resonance, and alternative registers of artistic expression. In the curatorial text transmitted to the President of La Biennale di Venezia on 8 April 2025, Kouoh outlined the philosophical foundations guiding her vision, framing the Exhibition as an invitation to engage with subtle.
The 61st International Art Exhibition is produced by La Biennale di Venezia with the participation of the curatorial team assembled by Koyo Kouoh. The team includes advisors Gabe Beckhurst Feijoo, Marie Hélène Pereira, and Rasha Salti; Siddhartha Mitter as Editor-in-Chief of the Exhibition catalogue; and Rory Tsapayi as Assistant Curator.
La Biennale di Venezia also marks the beginning of a new partnership with Bvlgari, which will serve as Exclusive Partner of the International Art Exhibition for three consecutive editions (2026, 2028, 2030).
The Main Sponsor of Biennale Arte 2026 is illycaffè, with Vela – Venezia Unica as Sponsor.
Invited Artists
This exhibition brings together 111 invited participants — including solo practitioners, collaborative duos, collectives, and artist-led organisations — drawn from diverse geographies and regions selected by Koyo. These selections were made with close attention to resonances, affinities, and potential convergences between practices, even when they emerge from distant contexts. By turning to artists working in Salvador, Dakar, San Juan, Beirut, Paris, or Nashville, for instance, Koyo aimed to imagine how their inventiveness, wide-ranging material explorations, and visionary approaches connect with other artists and movements unfolding simultaneously. In this way, In Minor Keys builds on Koyo’s lifelong relational geography shaped through her encounters with artists.
1. Pio Abad
Born 1983, Manila, Philippines. Lives in London, UK.
2. Philip Aguirre y Otegui
Born 1961, Schoten, Belgium. Lives in Antwerp, Belgium.
3. Akinbode Akinbiyi
Born 1946, Oxford, UK. Lives in Berlin, Germany.
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4. Laurie Anderson
Born 1947, Chicago, IL, USA. Lives in New York City, NY, USA.
5. Fabrice Aragno
Born 1970, Neuchâtel, Switzerland. Lives in Lausanne, Switzerland.
6. arms ache avid aeon:
Nancy Brooks Brody
Born 1962, New York City, NY, USA, D. 2023.
Joy Episalla
Born 1957, Bronxville, NY, USA. Lives in New York City, NY, USA.
Zoe Leonard
Born 1961 Liberty, NY, USA. Lives in New York City, NY, USA.
Carrie Yamaoka
Born 1957, Glen Cove, NY, USA. Lives in New York City, NY, USA.
fierce pussy
Founded 1991, New York City, NY, USA.
Jo-ey Tang
Born 1978, Hong Kong, China. Lives in New York City, NY, USA.
7. Kader Attia
Born, 1970, Dugny, France. Lives in Berlin, Germany and Paris, France.
8. Sammy Baloji
Born 1978, Lubumbashi, Democratic Republic of the Congo. Lives in Brussels, Belgium and Lubumbashi, Democratic Republic of the Congo.
9. Ranti Bam
Born 1985, Lagos, Nigeria. Lives in Paris, France and Lagos, Nigeria.
10. Alvaro Barrington
Born 1983, Caracas, Venezuela. Lives in London, UK.
11. Éric Baudelaire
Born 1973, Salt Lake City, UT, USA. Lives in Paris, France.
12. Sabian Baumann
Born 1962, Zug, Switzerland. Lives in Zurich, Switzerland.
13. blaxTARLINES KUMASI
Founded 2015, Kumasi, Ghana.
14. Beverly Buchanan
Born 1940, Fuquay, NC, USA. D. 2015.
15. Seyni Awa Camara
Born 1945, Oussouy, Senegal. D. 2026.
16. Nick Cave
Born 1959, Chicago, IL, USA. Lives in Chicago, IL, USA.
17. Carolina Caycedo
Colombian, born 1978, London, UK. Lives in Los Angeles, CA, USA and Caguas, Puerto Rico.
18. Annalee Davis
Born 1963, St. Michael, Barbados. Lives in St. George, Barbados.
19. BuBu de la Madeleine
Born 1961, Osaka, Japan. Lives in Nara, Japan.
20. Dawn DeDeaux
Born 1952, New Orleans, LA, USA. Lives in New Orleans, LA, USA.
21. Nolan Oswald Dennis
Born 1988, Lusaka, Zambia. Lives in Johannesburg, South Africa.
22. Denniston Hill
Founded 2008, Glen Wild, NY, USA.
23. Bonnie Devine
Born 1952, Toronto, Canada. Lives in Toronto, Canada.
24. Godfried Donkor
Born 1964, Accra, Ghana. Lives in London, UK and Accra, Ghana.
25. Marcel Duchamp
Born 1887, Blainville-Crevon, France. D. 1968.
26. Edouard Duval-Carrié
Born 1954, Port-au-Prince, Haïtï. Lives in Miami, FL, USA.
27. Torkwase Dyson
Born 1973, Chicago, IL, USA. Lives in Beacon, NY, USA.
28. rana elnemr
Born 1974, Hannover, Germany. Lives in Cairo, Egypt.
29. Theo Eshetu
Born 1958, London, UK. Lives in Berlin, Germany and Rome, Italy.
30. Rachel Fallon (with Alice Maher)
Born 1971, Dublin, Ireland. Lives in Dublin, Ireland.
31. G.A.S. Foundation
Founded 2023, Lagos and Ijebu Ode, Nigeria.
32. Sofía Gallisá Muriente
Born 1986, San Juan, Puerto Rico. Lives in Puerto Rico.
33. Adebunmi Gbadebo
Born 1992, Livingston, NJ, USA. Lives in Philadelphia, PA and Newark, NJ, USA.
34. Leonilda González
Born 1923, Minuano, Uruguay. D. 2017.
35. Linda Goode Bryant
Born 1949, Columbus, OH, USA. Lives in New York City, NY, USA.
36. Joana Hadjithomas & Khalil Joreige
Joana Hadjithomas
Born 1969, Beirut, Lebanon. Lives in Beirut, Lebanon and Paris, France.
Khalil Joreige
Born 1969, Moussaitbeh, Lebanon. Lives in Beirut, Lebanon and Paris, France.
37. Alexa Kumiko Hatanaka
Born 1988, Toronto, Canada. Lives in Toronto, Canada; New York City, NY, USA; and Japan.
38. Ayrson Heráclito
Born 1968, Macaúbas, Bahia, Brazil. Lives in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil.
39. Clarissa Herbst & Dominique Rust
Clarissa Herbst
Born 1959, Crailsheim, Germany. Lives in Zurich, Switzerland.
Dominique Rust
Born 1960, Basel, Switzerland. Lives in Zurich, Switzerland.
40. Nicholas Hlobo
Born 1975, Cape Town, South Africa. Lives in Johannesburg, South Africa.
41. Carsten Höller
Born 1961, Brussels, Belgium. Lives in Stockholm, Sweden; Biriwa, Ghana; and Tuscany, Italy.
42. Sohrab Hura
Born 1981, Chinsurah, India. Lives in New Delhi, India.
43. Alfredo Jaar
Born 1965, Santiago, Chile. Lives in Lisbon, Portugal.
44. Mohammed Joha
Born 1978, Gaza, Palestine. Lives in Marseille, France.
45. Michael Joo
Born 1966, Ithaca, NY, USA. Lives in New York City, NY, USA.
46. Nina Katchadourian
Born 1968, Stanford, CA, USA. Lives in New York City, NY, USA and Berlin, Germany.
47. Bodys Isek Kingelez
Born 1948, Kimbembele Ihunga, former Belgian Congo, now Democratic Republic of the Congo. D. 2015.
48. Sandra Knecht
Born 1968, Buus, Switzerland. Lives in Buus, Switzerland.
49. Marcia Kure
Born 1970, Kano State, Nigeria. Lives in Princeton, NJ, USA; Abuja, and Kaduna, Nigeria.
50. Natalia Lassalle-Morillo (in collaboration with Gloria Morillo)
Born 1991, San Juan, Puerto Rico. Lives in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
51. Florence Lazar
Born 1966, Paris, France. Lives in Paris, France.
52. Dan Lie
Born 1988. Lives in Berlin, Germany.
53. Werewere Liking
Born 1950, Mgombas, Cameroon. Lives in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire.
54. lugar a dudas
Founded 2004, Cali, Colombia.
55. Daniel Lind-Ramos
Born 1953, Loiza, Puerto Rico. Lives in Loiza, Puerto Rico.
56. Alice Maher
Born 1956, Tipperary, Ireland. Lives in County Mayo, Ireland.
57. Maria Magdalena Campos-Pons & Kamaal Malak
Maria Magdalena Campos-Pons
Born 1959, Matanzas, Cuba Lives in Nashville, TN, USA.
Kamaal Malak
Born 1962, Philadelphia, PA, USA. Lives in Nashville, TN, USA.
58. Senzeni Marasela
Born 1977, Thokoza, South Africa. Lives in Johannesburg, South Africa.
59. Guadalupe Maravilla
Born 1976, San Salvador, El Salvador. Lives in New York City, NY, USA.
60. Manuel Mathieu
Born 1986, Port-au-Prince, Haïtï. Lives in Montreal, Canada and Paris, France.
61. Georgina Maxim
Born 1980, Harare, Zimbabwe. Lives in Harare and Mutare, Zimbabwe.
62. Tiona Nekkia McClodden
Born 1981, Blytheville, AR, USA. Lives in Philadelphia, PA, USA.
63. Big Chief Demond Melancon
Born 1978, New Orleans, LA, USA. Lives in New Orleans, LA, USA.
64. Avi Mograbi
Born 1956, Tel Aviv. Lives in Lisbon, Portugal.
65. Wangechi Mutu
Born 1972, Nairobi, Kenya. Lives in New York City, NY, USA and Nairobi, Kenya.
66. Nairobi Contemporary Art Institute (NCAI)
Founded 2020, Nairobi, Kenya.
67. Eustaquio Neves
Born 1955, Juatuba, Brazil. Lives in Diamantina, Brazil.
68. Tuấn Andrew Nguyễn
Born 1976, Sài Gòn, Việt Nam. Lives in Hội An, works in Hồ Chí Minh City, Việt Nam.
69. Tammy Nguyen
Born 1984, San Francisco, CA, USA. Lives in Easton, CT, USA.
70. Otobong Nkanga
Born 1974, Kano, Nigeria. Lives in Antwerp, Belgium, and Uyo, Nigeria.
71. Kaloki Nyamai
Born 1985, Nairobi, Kenya. Lives in Nairobi, Kenya.
72. Temitayo Ogunbiyi
Born 1984, Rochester, NY, USA. Lives in Lagos, Nigeria.
73. Pauline Oliveros
Born 1932, Houston, TX, USA. D. 2016.
74. Kambui Olujimi
Born 1976, Brooklyn, New York City, NY, USA. Lives in New York City, NY, USA.
75. Hagar Ophir
Born 1983, Jerusalem. Lives in Berlin, Germany.
76. Uriel Orlow
Born 1973, Zurich, Switzerland. Lives in Lisbon, Portugal; London, UK; and Basel, Switzerland.
77. Ebony G. Patterson
Born 1981, Kingston, Jamaica. Lives in Kingston, Jamaica and Chicago, IL, USA.
78. Rajni Perera & Marigold Santos
Rajni Perera
Born 1985, Colombo, Sri Lanka. Lives in Toronto, Canada.
Marigold Santos
Born 1981, Manila, Phillipines. Lives in Calgary, Canada.
79. Thania Petersen
Born 1980, Cape Town, South Africa. Lives in Cape Town, South Africa.
80. Alan Phelan
Born 1968, Dublin, Ireland. Lives in Dublin, Ireland.
81. Johannes Phokela
Born 1966, Johannesburg, South Africa. Lives in Johannesburg, South Africa.
82. Léonard Pongo
Born 1988, Liège, Belgium. Lives in Brussels, Belgium and Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo.
83. Walid Raad
Born 1967, Chbanieh, Lebanon. Lives in Medusa, NY, USA.
84. Mohammed Z. Rahman
Born 1997, London, UK. Lives in London, UK.
85. RAW Material Company
Founded 2008, Dakar, Senegal.
86. Tabita Rezaire
Born 1989, Paris, France, 1989. Lives in Cayenne, French Guiana.
87. Guadalupe Rosales
Born 1980, Redwood City, CA, USA. Lives in Los Angeles, CA, USA.
88. Yo-E Ryou
Born 1987, Seoul, South Korea. Lives in Seoul and Jeju Island, South Korea.
89. Khaled Sabsabi
Born 1965, Tripoli, Lebanon. Lives in Sydney, Australia.
90. Rose Salane
Born 1992, New York City, NY, USA. Lives in New York City, NY, USA.
91. Issa Samb
Born 1945, Dakar, Senegal. D. 2017.
92. Amina Saoudi Aït Khay
Born 1955, Casablanca, Morocco. Lives in Sousse, Tunisia.
93. Carrie Schneider
Born 1979, Chicago, IL USA. Lives in New York City, NY, USA.
94. Hala Schoukair
Born 1957, Beirut, Lebanon. Lives in Beirut, Lebanon.
95. Berni Searle
Born 1964, Cape Town, South Africa. Lives in Cape Town, South Africa.
96. Mmakgabo Mmapula Helen Sebidi
Born 1943, Marapyane, South Africa. Lives in Johannesburg, South Africa.
97. Wardha Shabbir
Born 1987, Lahore, Pakistan. Lives in Lahore, Pakistan.
98. Yoshiko Shimada
Born 1959, Tokyo, Japan. Lives in Chiba, Japan.
99. Himali Singh Soin & David Soin Tappeser
Himali Singh Soin
Born 1987, New Delhi, India. Lives in London, UK and New Delhi, India.
David Soin Tappeser
Born 1985, Bonn, Germany. Lives in London, UK and New Delhi, India.
100. Buhlebezwe Siwani
Born 1987, Johannesburg, South Africa. Lives in Amsterdam, Netherlands and Cape Town, South Africa.
101. Cauleen Smith
Born 1967, Riverside, CA, USA. Lives in Los Angeles, CA, USA.
102. Vera Tamari
Born 1944, Jerusalem, Palestine. 1944. Lives in Ramallah, Palestine.
103. Tsai Ming-liang
Born 1957, Kuching, Malaysia. Lives in New Taipei City and Taipei, Taiwan.
104. Victoria-Idongesit Udondian
Born 1982, Uyo, Nigeria. Lives in Lagos, Nigeria and New York City, NY, USA.
105. Celia Vásquez Yui
Born 1960, Pucallpa, Peru. Lives in the Peruvian Amazon, Pucallpa, Peru.
106. Kemang Wa Lehulere
Born 1984, Cape Town, South Africa. Lives in Cape Town, South Africa.
107. Kennedy Yanko
Born 1988, St. Louis, MO, USA. Lives in Miami, FL, USA.
108. Raed Yassin
Born 1979, Beirut, Lebanon. Lives in Beirut, Lebanon and Berlin, Germany.
109. Sawangwongse Yawnghwe
Born 1971, Shan State Burma. Lives in Zutphen, Netherlands and Chiang Mai, Thailand.
110. Billie Zangewa
Born 1973, Blantyre, Malawi. Lives in Johannesburg, South Africa.
National Participants and Collateral Events
The 61st International Art Exhibition – In Minor Keys by Koyo Kouoh, organised by La Biennale di Venezia, will be accompanied by 100 National Participations and 31 Collateral Events.
Seven countries are participating in Biennale Arte for the first time: the Republic of Guinea, the Republic of Equatorial Guinea, the Republic of Nauru, Qatar, the Republic of Sierra Leone, Federal Republic of Somalia, and the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam. El Salvador is participating for the first time with its own pavilion.
India — Geographies of Distance: Remembering Home looks at India’s rapid transformation through the idea of “home,” bringing together works by Alwar Balasubramaniam, Sumakshi Singh, Ranjani Shettar, Asim Waqif, and Skarma Sonam Tashi to explore connections between memory, migration, traditional architecture, and urbanisation. India — Geographies of Distance: Remembering Home looks at India’s rapid transformation through the idea of “home,” bringing together works by Alwar Balasubramaniam, Sumakshi Singh, Ranjani Shettar, Asim Waqif, and Skarma Sonam Tashi to explore connections between memory, migration, traditional architecture, and urbanisation.
Belgium — Miet Warlop’s IT NEVER SSST transforms the pavilion into a high-energy stage where music, dance, performance, and fragmented words collide; plaster words scattered across the walls and bleachers leave behind a chaotic yet poetic atmosphere even after the performance ends.
Austria — Florentina Holzinger’s Seaworld Venice brings together water, the body, and ecology through dance, theatre, and performance, while its ambitious live performances throughout the day have made the pavilion one of the Biennale’s most talked-about destinations, with long queues especially during the opening period.
Scandinavia — The joint pavilion of Finland, Norway, and Sweden brings together Tori Wrånes, Klara Kristalova, and Benjamin Orlow in an exploration of bodies, materials, sound, and memory, while enormous sculptures extending beyond the pavilion and seemingly emerging from its architecture create a striking visual impact even before entering.
Brazil — Rosana Paulino and Adriana Varejão’s Comigo ninguém pode creates an intense visual world between nature, spirituality, and colonial history, looking back at Brazil’s past through botanical and bodily imagery.
Germany — Henrike Naumann and Sung Tieu’s Ruin takes the lost structures and divided history of East Germany as its starting point, while Tieu’s intervention covers the pavilion’s neoclassical façade with a monumental trompe-l’oeil mosaic; inside, furniture and everyday objects create an atmosphere where history, ideology, and personal memory intersect.
Great Britain — Turner Prize-winning artist Lubaina Himid’s Predicting History: Testing Translation explores belonging and the idea of making a home somewhere new through the question “stay or go?”; large-scale paintings, sound, and a theatrical setting bring together a world of architects, shipbuilders, cooks, tailors, and gardeners.
Japan — Ei Arakawa-Nash’s Grass Babies, Moon Babies invites visitors to pick up one of 208 baby dolls at the entrance and carry it through the pavilion; the simple yet uncanny ritual creates the surreal sight of adults walking around with dolls in their arms, placing care, family, the future, and collective responsibility at the centre of the experience.
China (People’s Republic of China) — Dream Stream brings traditional Chinese thought into dialogue with science and technology, exploring artificial intelligence, digital production, and robotics; with its fusion of art and technology and its increasingly blurred boundaries between human and machine, it offers one of the Biennale’s most futuristic experiences.
Italy — Chiara Camoni’s With You with Everything brings together human-scale figures made from plants, flowers, plastics, and everyday objects across two different spaces, creating an idiosyncratic world between living and non-living matter, nature, and the human body.
Bahamas — In Another Man’s Yard: John Beadle, Lavar Munroe, and the Spirit of (Posthumous) Collaboration grows out of Lavar Munroe’s posthumous collaboration with John Beadle, who died in 2024; Junkanoo costumes, discarded materials, and invisible labour become a way of reflecting on memory, community, and cultural heritage.
Argentina — Matías Duville’s Monitor Yin Yang transforms the floor of the Arsenale into a monumental, walkable drawing made with around 30 tons of salt and charcoal; combining sound, video, and the movement of visitors, this striking black-and-white landscape explores the tension between nature, destruction, and the future.
You can access these from the official laBiennale page.
Cover Image: Venice Biennale 2026. Photo: Andrea Avezzu