Biennale skews to living artists
A data analysis of the Venice Biennale’s main exhibition, “In Minor Keys,” shows a marked shift toward living, mid-career artists — the analysis reports more than 90% of represented artists are living. The piece also notes a more globally balanced roster curated by Koyo Kouoh. (news.artnet.com)
The 2026 Venice Biennale’s main show tilts sharply toward the present: Artnet’s analysis found more than 90 percent of the 111 artists in “In Minor Keys” are living. (news.artnet.com) La Biennale di Venezia announced the artist list on February 25, 2026, for the 61st International Art Exhibition, which opens May 9 and runs through November 22 in the Giardini, the Arsenale, and other Venice sites. (labiennale.org) The same roster points to a mid-career-heavy exhibition rather than a canon-building survey of dead artists or a star-making bet on very young ones, according to Artnet’s data review. (news.artnet.com) That marks a break from the last two main exhibitions in Venice, which leaned harder on historical recovery and art-historical revision. Several recent Biennale editions used archival rediscoveries to recast the story of modern and contemporary art. (news.artnet.com) “In Minor Keys” was conceived by Koyo Kouoh, the Cameroon-born curator and museum leader whom Venice named in December 2024 as the first African woman to organize the Biennale’s central exhibition. She died unexpectedly in May 2025, and the Biennale said her team would carry out the show in line with her plan. (labiennale.org) (news.artnet.com) The Biennale said the exhibition follows Kouoh’s curatorial vision “in full accordance,” with Gabe Beckhurst Feijoo, Marie Hélène Pereira, Rasha Salti, Siddhartha Mitter, and Rory Tsapayi continuing the project after her death. (labiennale.org) Artnet’s analysis also found a more even geographic spread in the lineup, with fewer artists concentrated in the United States and Western Europe than in many past editions. That fits Kouoh’s long-running work across Dakar, Cape Town, and international exhibition circuits outside the usual Euro-American center. (news.artnet.com) (labiennale.org) In her curatorial text, Kouoh framed “minor keys” as a slower, more attentive register for art made amid political and social strain, not a retreat from the present. The Biennale describes the exhibition as a “visual and meditative procession” across different worlds and senses. (labiennale.org) (universes.art) The result is a Venice edition built less around posthumous correction and more around artists still working now — a curatorial choice that will be tested in public when previews begin on May 6, 2026. (labiennale.org) (news.artnet.com)
