Koyo Kouoh, the celebrated Cameroonian-born curator behind some of the most significant exhibitions of African contemporary art in recent decades, has died unexpectedly at the age of 57.
Kouoh’s death comes just months after being appointed curator of the 2026 Venice Biennale—making her the second African-born curator to lead the storied exhibition, following Okwui Enwezor’s groundbreaking edition in 2015.
La Biennale di Venezia announced her passing on Saturday, describing her as a figure of “passion, intellectual rigor, and vision.” The theme and title of the 61st International Art Exhibition, which she had been developing since her appointment in December 2024, were set to be unveiled in Venice on May 20.
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Kouoh was widely admired for her uncompromising curatorial voice and her commitment to expanding the global narrative of contemporary art beyond the the US and Europe. She was executive director and chief curator of the Zeitz Museum of Contemporary African Art (Zeitz MOCAA) in Cape Town, South Africa—an institution she helped shape into a critical platform for artists from across the continent and its diaspora. Her 2022 exhibition When We See Us: A Century of Black Figuration in Painting was hailed as a landmark in rethinking the canon of modern and contemporary painting.
Before Zeitz MOCAA, Kouoh founded RAW Material Company in Dakar, Senegal, in 2008, a vital hub for independent art discourse in West Africa. She also contributed to two editions of Documenta (2007, 2012), organized Ireland’s EVA International, and participated in the 2018 Carnegie International.
Her death is a profound loss for the art world—particularly for the many artists, curators, and institutions who looked to her as both mentor and model. It remains unclear what the future holds for the 2026 Biennale, but Kouoh’s absence will be deeply felt.