In February 2025, Art Matters welcomed Koyo Kouoh, the acclaimed curator, cultural producer and first African woman appointed to curate the Venice Biennale, for an intimate conversation with Kendell Geers.

At the time, Kouoh was developing In Minor Keys, her vision for the 61st International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia. Their conversation moved from the rise and significance of African figuration to the future of the 130-year-old Biennale, but also to more fundamental questions about who art is for, how we look at it and why it matters.

“I am not interested in the artworks, I am interested in the people who make the artworks. Why they do what they do.”

Kouoh invited us to consider ways of imagining art beyond inherited frameworks and historical prejudices. At the heart of her thinking was a profound belief in art’s capacity to transform us individually.

“I strongly believe in the power of art on an individual level. In the possibility of individual transformation through the spirit conveyed through artworks. Artworks are vehicles. It’s about the spirit, it’s about the love, it’s about the labour, it’s about the time that is put into an artwork.”

Koyo Kouoh passed away in May 2025, before In Minor Keys could open. The exhibition she had conceived was subsequently brought to completion by her curatorial team, carrying forward her vision and becoming a testament to a life dedicated to artists, their voices and the transformative power of art.

WATCH THE TALK ON YOUTUBE