Venice Biennale, Venice, Italy
May 9–November 22, 2026
Michael Armitage's foundation, the Nairobi Contemporary Arts Institute (NCAI), will be included in this 61st Venice Biennale, In Minor Keys.The 61st International Art Exhibition was conceived by Koyo Kouoh, the Cameroonian-Swiss curator, former Executive Director of the Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa in Cape Town, and a towering advocate for artists of African descent and the global diaspora. Kouoh passed away in May 2025 before the exhibition she had so carefully built could be publicly unveiled. The exhibition proceeds in full accordance with her vision, carried forward by her team of collaborators: Gabe Beckhurst Feijoo, Marie Helene Pereira, Rasha Salti, Siddhartha Mitter, and Rory Tsapayi.
NCAI stated, “To be invited into Koyo Kouoh's exhibition is an honor NCAI does not take lightly. Her curatorial framework—grounded in a belief in artists as vital interpreters of the social and psychic condition, and in practices that connect rather than merely comment—speaks directly to the work we have pursued in Nairobi. We participate not only as an institution, but as inheritors of a vision she gave her final months to realise.”
Learn more about the exhibition at La Biennale di Venezia.
About NCAI
Nairobi Contemporary Art Institute (NCAI) is a nonprofit visual arts space dedicated to the growth and preservation of contemporary art in East Africa. Established in 2020, NCAI builds on a rich legacy of art projects and institutions in the region and seeks to tell the stories of the artists and projects that have shaped the region’s contemporary art scene. Through exhibitions, the development of an archive of East African art, an extensive public program of talks, and a multidisciplinary educational program, NCAI serves as an inspiring cultural space and a resource for the thriving East African arts community.
Learn more about the Nairobi Contemporary Arts Institute.