Venice Biennale 'In Minor Keys' discussed

La Biennale di Venezia opened “In Minor Keys” on May 9 as the 61st International Art Exhibition, carrying forward a project conceived by the late curator Koyo Kouoh. The central show runs through November 22 across the Giardini, the Arsenale and other Venice sites, according to the Biennale. Reviews and previews published around the opening described an exhibition marked by mourning, political violence and questions about who the institution includes and excludes. ### Why are so many writers discussing the show through Koyo Kouoh’s absence? Koyo Kouoh died in May 2025, a year before the exhibition opened, after she had already set its title, framework, artist list, catalogue contributors and exhibition architecture, the Biennale said. La Biennale said it proceeded with the support of her family and named the team that completed the exhibition: Gabe Beckhurst Feijoo, Marie Hélène Pereira, Rasha Salti, Siddhartha Mitter and Rory Tsapayi. (labiennale.org) The Art Newspaper said that fact shaped how critics encountered the exhibition from the start. Its review called the show a “rich but uneven” realization of Kouoh’s ideas and said the question of how she would have staged it was “inescapable” for visitors moving through the Giardini and Arsenale. ### What is “In Minor Keys” trying to do, in the Biennale’s own language? (labiennale.org) La Biennale said Kouoh’s project asked viewers to move away from spectacle and attend to quieter frequencies. In an introduction published by the Biennale, Kouoh’s text described “minor keys” as an invitation to listen “sotto voce” and to seek places where “the dignity of all living beings is safeguarded.” (theartnewspaper.com) Artnews said the exhibition includes 110 artists and collectives. Its review described the works as different responses to a moment when contemporary life feels unstable, while The Art Newspaper highlighted a procession of “sentinels and hybrid beings” as one of the show’s recurring visual structures. (labiennale.org) ### Why did grief and political fracture dominate the early coverage? Frieze said one of the first works encountered near the Giardini entrance is fierce pussy and Jo-ey Tang’s installation using the colors of a deconstructed Palestinian flag, alongside text noting that Palestine has no official pavilion at the Biennale despite recognition by many U.N. member states. The review said the placement turned the institution’s own structure of national pavilions into part of the argument. (artnews.com) E-flux said visitors entering from the Arsenale first see a strip of fabric printed with Refaat al-Areer’s poem “If I must die,” written before the Palestinian poet and his family were killed in an Israeli airstrike in 2023. Artnews separately reported that artists and writers were testing the limits of what could be said about Palestine and Israel inside the 2026 Biennale. (frieze.com) The Art Newspaper and Frieze also tied the show’s atmosphere to institutional strain around the exhibition. Frieze reported that the international jury selected by Kouoh had resigned en masse after a dispute over whether to exclude certain countries from prize consideration, while The Art Newspaper’s Venice coverage said protests took place around the Israeli and Russian pavilions during previews. (e-flux.com) ### Which works or pavilions stood out as exceptions to the mood? The Atlantic singled out Austria’s pavilion as a memorable outlier from the prevailing tone, describing Florentina Holzinger’s conversion of the space into “Seaworld Venice.” That account framed the pavilion as one of the few works that broke from the central exhibition’s prevailing register of sorrow and fracture. (frieze.com) The Art Newspaper, meanwhile, pointed to individual works inside the main exhibition, including Otobong Nkanga’s installation at the entrance to the Central Pavilion and Big Chief Demond Melancon’s large Black Masking suit, as among the stronger elements in the procession Kouoh’s team assembled. ### What should readers watch next? (theatlantic.com) November 22, 2026, is the closing date for “In Minor Keys,” according to La Biennale’s official information page. The Biennale said visitors can see the exhibition at the Giardini, Arsenale and Forte Marghera, with ticketing and guided-tour information posted through its official 2026 exhibition pages. (labiennale.org) (theartnewspaper.com)