It is with great sadness that we learned of the death of Koyo Kouoh, who died unexpectedly on the night of May 9-10. Only last December, she had been appointed curator of the 61st Venice Art Biennale, which she would have been the first woman from Africa to head next year. With the passing of Kouoh, who lived in Cape Town, Dakar and Basel, the international art world has lost a highly esteemed mediator between the cultures of Africa and Europe and one of the most important curatorial voices on the African continent.

As a specialist in photography, video and public installations, the director of the Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa (Cape Town, South Africa), born in 1967 in Douala (Cameroon), curated exhibitions in Brazil, Switzerland, Austria, Germany, Senegal and the United States and published numerous articles on contemporary art in Africa. As an advisor to the artistic directors of documenta 12 (2007) and documenta 13 (2012) and as a member of the Finding Committee for documenta 14 (2017), she has played a decisive role in shaping the development of documenta in Kassel over the past decades.

Koyo Kouoh was 57 years old.