The director-designate, Koyo Kouoh, passed away suddenly on May 10, at the age of 57, and now it will be her team that will carry out the project for the 61st edition of the Venice Biennale's International Art Exhibition scheduled from May 9 to November 22, 2026, the edition she was to present on May 20. Koyo Kouoh appeared in the video that was to constitute her presentation: a big smile on her face, the expression of happiness and pride for the task she had been assigned. "In full agreement with Koyo Kouoh's family and her team," explained the President of the Venice Biennale, Pietrangelo Buttafuoco, who had assigned her the position of Director of the Visual Arts Sector, "the Biennale has decided to realize her Exhibition. It will do so according to the project as conceived and defined by her, also in order to preserve, enhance and disseminate as much as possible her ideas and the work done with dedication until the last". Born in Cameroon and director of Ziet Mocaa in Cape Town - the most important museum of contemporary African art - Koyo Kouoh would have been the first African curator of the Biennale.