The 61st Venice Biennale has unveiled the list of 111 participating artists for its main exhibition, In Minor Keys, curated by the team of the late Cameroonian-Senegalese curator Koyo Kouoh. Slated to open this April in the Giardini and Arsenale, the exhibition is being widely regarded as one of the most anticipated editions in recent years, shaped by the poignant legacy of Kouoh’s curatorial vision.
Kouoh, whose sudden passing in 2024 left a deep void in the global art community, had conceived the Biennale’s theme as a meditation on subtlety, displacement, and the politics of feeling — inviting artists to consider quieter forms of resistance and resilience in an increasingly polarized world. Her curatorial collaborators, drawn from her long-time team at RAW Material Company in Dakar and other international institutions, have carried forward her conceptual framework, ensuring that In Minor Keys remains faithful to her ethos of care, nuance, and critical inquiry.
The exhibition’s title gestures toward the idea of minor tonalities — the understated, melancholic, and tender registers often sidelined in the dominant narratives of art history. The participating artists, who come from more than 60 countries, include both emerging voices and acclaimed practitioners. Though the full list spans a broad spectrum of practices, early reactions highlight a strong presence of African, South Asian, and diasporic artists, reflecting Kouoh’s long-standing commitment to complicating the geography of contemporary art.
Beyond the main exhibition, the Biennale will continue to host over 80 national pavilions, with several countries debuting for the first time. Collectively, this year’s event signals not only a celebration of global artistic diversity but also a moving tribute to Kouoh’s curatorial legacy, one that insists on tenderness, inquiry, and interconnectedness as forms of strength.
The 61st Venice Biennale runs from April to November 2026.
Athmaja Biju is the Editor at Abir Pothi. She is a Translator and Writer working on Visual Culture.
