The Venice Biennale’s Record African Participation Comes With Caveats

There was a heaviness around the opening celebrations marking the 2026 Biennale, titled “In Minor Keys.” Compounding the psychological weight of so much global angst was the first anniversary of the sudden passing of Koyo Kouoh, the Cameroonian-Swiss curator who was the second African and sixth woman to spearhead the event.There was no shortage of acknowledgments and tributes. Some appeared in the show itself, like Maria Magdalena Campos-Pons’ four-panel Anatomy of the Magnolia