A New Vision for the Venice Biennale
The Venice Biennale is one of the world’s most prominent art events, a dynamic and global gathering that reflects and comments on the socio-political landscape of our time. For the 61st edition, the late curator Koyo Kouoh had a clear vision: to shift the focus from the “anxious cacophony of the present chaos” to a more introspective and emotional exploration of connectivity and grounding. This vision was encapsulated in the theme ‘In Minor Keys’.
After Kouoh’s passing in May 2025, her team has worked tirelessly to bring her concept to life. The exhibition serves as a framework for the works displayed across the central exhibition venues at the Giardini and the Arsenale, featuring 111 artists, and also guides the national pavilions.
Soulful, Sensory, and Spiritual
Kouoh’s polyphonic theme is expressed through several interconnected motifs: Shrines, Procession, Schools, Rest, and Performances. These elements are interwoven with core values such as quietude, nurture, intimacy, and reflection. The exhibition explores how connectivity can be unconscious, emerging when the interests of unrelated artists and movements find affinity. This concept, known as “relational geography,” emphasizes encounters and the memories formed through them.
Visitors are encouraged to move through the show in a meditative state, reconnecting with the soulful, sensory, and spiritual aspects of art. As Kouoh wrote in her manifesto, it is an invitation to slow down in a space where “time is not corporate property nor at the mercy of relentlessly accelerated productivity.”
Gardens and Oases
A key element of the exhibition is the introduction of “an archipelago of oases”—spaces rich with memory and emotion that were central to major artists’ universes. Examples include Issa Samb’s former courtyard in Dakar, Marcel Duchamp’s last studio, and Werewere Liking’s theatrical cooperative in Abidjan. These spaces serve as metaphors for sustenance and reconnection.
Another imaginative space is the garden, both experiential and metaphorical. Linda Goode Bryant’s Still Life will take the form of an urban farm, tended to by formerly incarcerated women throughout the duration of the exhibition. This project highlights themes of care, community, and transformation.
Kouoh’s Schools motif is also a kind of garden, representing spaces for the nourishment and nurture of learning and creativity. Artist-led organizations such as Raw Material Company in Dakar, GAS Foundation in Lagos, and the Nairobi Contemporary Art Institution embody this ethos, focusing on convening, sharing knowledge, and building centers without commercial intervention.
National Pavilions as Spaces of Contemplation
Some national pavilions have been transformed into spaces of contemplation and connection. The Holy See Pavilion features a sound-based experience inspired by the writings of 12th-century abbess Hildegard of Bingen, offering visitors a “sonic prayer” as they explore the cloistered 17th-century garden.
For Qatar, artist Rirkrit Tiravanija has designed a tent-like structure as a place for cultural exchange. It includes a film by Qatari-American artist Sophia Al-Maria, live performances by Lebanese artist Tarek Atoui, a large-scale sculpture by Kuwaiti-Puerto Rican artist Alia Farid, and a culinary programme of Middle Eastern cuisine by Palestinian chef Fadi Kattan.
Processions and the Carnivalesque
Kouoh’s Procession motif celebrates human connection and collective participation. Artists like Big Chief Demond Melancon, Nick Cave, Alvaro Barrington, Daniel Lind-Ramos, and Ebony G. Patterson explore gatherings that range from circadian celebrations and rituals in diasporan centres to communions between the living and the ancestors.
Carnival is also represented as “a stitch in time where relations of power are momentarily subverted and scrambled.” This is evident in the work of artists such as Johannes Phokela, Tammy Nguyen, Buhlebezwe Siwani, Sammy Baloji, and Godfried Donkor, who challenge established norms in art history and classical literature.
The Central Exhibition and Participation
The installation of the central exhibition by Wolff Architects draws inspiration from two books—One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez and Beloved by Toni Morrison—to create a sensory and interactive visitor experience.
The Japan Pavilion embraces participation with Grass Babies, Moon Babies by Japanese American queer artist Ei Arakawa-Nash. Visitors are invited to carry one of 200 baby dolls through the Pavilion’s pilotis, gardens, and interior spaces. By changing the dolls’ diapers and activating a QR code, visitors participate in an act of collective care, receiving a “diaper poem” based on each baby’s assigned birthday.
