The Venice Biennale has announced the full-line up of artists who will participate in this year's edition at the Giardini, the Arsenale and in various locations around Venice.
Widely considered to be the world's most important international art exhibition, the 61st biennale In Minor Keys by Koyo Kouoh, will open to the public on Saturday 9 May and run until Sunday 22 November 2026.
This year's biennale has been named in honour of its Cameroonian curator with the aim of "preserving and disseminating her ideas" after her unexpected death last May.
She had already developed much of her project after being named as the Artistic Director of the Visual Arts Department in November 2024.
A leading figure in promoting Pan-Africanism throughout the art world, Kouoh earned global acclaim for curating the 2022 exhibition When We See Us: A Century of Black Figuration in Painting, a monumental historical show inspired by Ava DuVernay’s Netflix miniseries When They See Us, and became the first African woman invited to lead the Venice Art Biennale.
In Minor Keys will be realised with the contribution of the team selected by Koyo: Gabe Beckhurst Feijoo, Marie Hélène Pereira and Rasha Salti (advisors); Siddhartha Mitter (editor-in-chief); and Rory Tsapayi (research assistant).
The 111 invited participants of this exhibition include individual artists, collaborative duos, collectives, and artist-led organisations. They hail from many regions selected by Kouoh for their affinities and possible convergences between practices, even when far apart.
The Venice Biennale pre-opening will take place on May 6, 7, and 8, while the awards ceremony and inauguration will be held on Saturday, May 9, 2026.
