Koyo Kouoh, Renowned Zeitz MOCAA Director and 2026 Venice Biennale Curator, Dies at 57.
Koyo Kouoh, the acclaimed Cameroonian curator and executive director of Cape Town’s Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa (Zeitz MOCAA), has died suddenly at the age of 57, the museum confirmed on May 10. Her passing comes as a shock to the global art world, just as she was preparing to lead the 61st Venice Biennale in 2026—a historic appointment that symbolized her lasting impact on global contemporary and Pan-African art.
Kouoh was known for her transformative leadership at Zeitz MOCAA since 2019, where she reshaped the museum’s programming and mission. She also founded RAW Material Company in Dakar, a pivotal space for artistic and intellectual exchange in West Africa. Her international influence included curatorial roles in Documenta 12 and 13.
Tributes have poured in worldwide. Among them, Beatrice ‘Bee’ Arthur, founder of Fashion Domain Ghana, offered a heartfelt reflection on Kouoh’s legacy and the burdens often placed on African creatives. Arthur noted the tragic parallels between Kouoh’s untimely passing and that of Okwui Enwezor, another groundbreaking African curator of the Venice Biennale, who died in 2019.
“Her curatorial voice was lucid, rigorous, and deeply African—not in cliché, but in conviction,” Arthur said. “Her appointment was more than personal success; it signaled a shifting center in the art world. That promise has now been painfully interrupted.”
Arthur’s tribute called for reflection on the systemic pressures faced by African trailblazers in global spaces, urging the art world to create systems that nurture rather than exhaust.
Though Kouoh’s physical presence is gone, her influence endures. Her pioneering work continues to inspire, challenging institutions to center African narratives and voices in the global cultural conversation.