During the curatorial work, many ideas resonated with the literary references shared by Koyo as sources of inspiration, among them, Beloved by Toni Morrison and One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez, texts that connect in their evocation of thresholds between lifeworlds and temporalities and by a magical realism which deepens rather than distracts from an emotional register.

Wolff Architects, in Cape Town, were appointed by Koyo in early 2025 to realise the design and scenography for In Minor Keys. The team focused on the transformative spatial power of the threshold as a portal to alternative comprehension and experiences. The intelligence of their design is its generosity to each artist’s universe and to the sensorial experience that can open up between constellations of practices. In the Central Pavilion at the Giardini and in the Arsenale, thresholds are marked via sweeping indigo banners that meet the rafters and graze the floor, calming the senses at the dénouement of one phase and signalling the opening of another.

Realised by Biennale di Venezia

Polveriera austriaca, Forte Marghera, Mestre
At Forte Marghera, artists Temitayo Ogunbiyi, Uriel Orlow, and Fabrice Aragno extend the proposition of In Minor Keys to the mainland with projects that invite wandering, play, interaction, and relaxation. On the lawns, Ogunbiyi’s undulating sculpture offers visitors a place to lay down and reflect, while Orlow’s botanical maps look at La Biennale through the prism of plants. Inside the historic fort building, Aragno presents a radical reinterpretation of Jean-Luc Godard’s The Image Book, expanding the moving image into three dimensions.

Applied Arts Pavilion, Arsenale, Sale d’Armi 
Gala Porras-Kim was selected by Kouoh for the Applied Arts Pavilion in the Arsenale, developed in collaboration with the Victoria and Albert Museum, London. The artist, participanting out of competition, explores the complex relationships between cultural artefacts, museums, and the institutional conventions that classify and narrativise their place within history. The project will bring together drawings, sculptures, and video that reflect her ongoing engagement with frameworks of conservation and the processes by which different actors in the museum field, including conservators and curators, shape the meaning and function of cultural objects. In so doing, Porras-Kim’s investigations resonate with the exhibition’s looking aslant at the archive.

For the 17th year in a row, La Biennale di Venezia renews the special project Biennale Sessions, dedicated to Universities, Academies of Fine Arts, and Higher Education and Research Institutes. La Biennale di Venezia regards the Exhibition as a venue where Universities, Academies of Fine Arts, and education and research institutes can organise and carry out visits and activities beneficial to their educational and teaching programmes, and aims to offer these institutions particularly favourable conditions. The project facilitates the organisarion of a 3 days stay for groups of 50 or more participants among students and lectureres, offering free spaces for a seminar and assistance with travel and accommodation arrangements. 50 organisations, including institutions and higher education programmes from 14 countries, have already joined the project: 24 from Italy and 26 from abroad (of which 18 are European and 8 are non-European).

La Biennale, in the last ten years, has increasingly emphasized educational activities, developing a strong commitment to “Educational” programs for Exhibition audiences, universities, and young people and children in schools of all levels. With the last two major Exhibitions — the 60th International Art Exhibition and the 19th International Architecture Exhibition — there were 132,996 participants in total, of whom 69,529 were young people involved in Educational activities. For 2026, the Educational programme is renewed, addressing itself to individuals and groups of students, children, adults, families, professionals, companies, and universities. All initiatives are conducted by professionals selected and trained by La Biennale and aim to actively involve participants. They fall under macro-categories: Guided Itineraries, Workshop Activities, and Interactive Initiatives — tours that can combine the visit with a workshop component, carried out either in designated spaces or directly along the exhibition route.

The official catalogue In Minor Keys consists of two volumes. Volume I is dedicated to the International Exhibition curated by Koyo Kouoh. Volume II is dedicated to the National Participations and Collateral Events. The Exhibition Guide has been conceived to accompany visitors throughout the exhibition path.

It was important to Koyo that the catalogue for In Minor Keys stand not only as a robust contribution to the archive, but also as an exemplar of the collaborative, cross-disciplinary, and intuitive mode of making that she convened.

The visual identity for In Minor Keys, along with the catalogue design, have been created by Clarissa Herbst in collaboration with Alex Sonderegger, following Koyo’s selection of Herbst. The design draws on komorebi, the Japanese term that designates the shifting and dappled effect of light filtered through leaves, to convey the relief found under the shade of a tree. Declined in shades of grey with subtle tonal gradients that balance evanescence and permanence, expressed on posters, signage, and moving textile banners, the design aims for clarity and impact while connoting natural and cosmic modes of perception.