Koyo Kouoh Foundation Launches to Preserve Legacy of Late Biennale Curator

The Koyo Kouoh Foundation has been established in Basel, Switzerland, to continue the intellectual and curatorial legacy of Koyo Kouoh, the Cameroonian-Swiss curator who died suddenly a year ago while preparing the 61st Venice Biennale's international exhibition "In Minor Keys." The foundation aims to support emerging and established cultural organizations in Africa and globally, including RAW Material Company, the art and research center Kouoh founded in Dakar in 2008. Future projects include the Koyo Kouoh Prize for artists, curators, and researchers, and a permanent home for the Koyo Kouoh Collection. Philippe Mall, Kouoh's partner of 17 years, serves as president. The board includes artist Alfredo Jaar, Adrienne Edwards of the Whitney Museum of American Art, Kate Fowle of the Hearthland Foundation, and Josef Helfenstein, former director of Kunstmuseum Basel. Kouoh also directed the Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa in Cape Town and curated "When We See Us: A Century of Black Figuration in Painting" in 2022. She contributed to Documenta 12 and 13 and several editions of EVA International.