VENICE — The Central Pavilion brings together 111 artists under the theme In Minor Keys, inviting visitors to slow down and move through the exhibition without haste. The show carries particular weight this year: after the sudden death of Cameroonian curator Koyo Kouoh in May 2025, the exhibition also reads as part of her legacy, shaped by remembrance, dedication and tribute.

An atmosphere of quiet attention

At the entrance, Nigerian artist Otobong Nkanga marks the newly restored pavilion by covering its four façade columns with locally made bricks, glass vessels and climbing plants. Her installation suggests that minerals, soil and vegetation are inseparable from histories of labour, extraction and colonial plunder.

Inside, the atmosphere recalls an ethnographic museum. Wooden and terracotta sculptures, tapestries, textiles, carpets, found objects, drawings and paintings appear in a deliberately direct, almost naïve visual language. Rather than foregrounding authorship or chronology, the exhibition follows Kouoh’s curatorial approach, encouraging viewers to pause, trust their emotions and listen before seeking explanation. Only then do certain works begin to resonate more deeply.

As a whole, the pavilion offers few major surprises and at times recalls the tone of Adriano Pedrosa’s 2024 Biennale, Strangers Everywhere.

Artists in dialogue with power, nature and memory

Cecilia Vasquez Yui presents a sculptural parliament of animals turned toward the viewer in unison, as if examining the public while simultaneously inviting it in. Tammy Nguyen, an American artist from Connecticut, uses panels and books to examine the United States’ political, ecological and colonial entanglements with other countries. “Beneath an apparently light, pop-inflected surface, I hide stars, hearts, doodles and literary references, including Frankenstein as a metaphor for destructive forces that exceed human control,” Nguyen explains. Her recent work draws extensively on Dante’s Inferno, Purgatorio and Paradiso across eleven books and panels.

Nigerian artist Marcia Kure’s Network V presents sculptures draped in wigs of long synthetic braids, each assembled by hand. Her materials evoke circulation, exchange and movement, while the combination of plant-based pigments and petrochemical elements underscores the mutual dependence of the natural and industrial worlds. The exhibition continues at the Arsenale.