Derrick Adams To Install Portrait Of Koyo Kouoh In Venice This Week

Venice will soon gain a public memorial to Koyo Kouoh, the late artistic director of the 2026 Venice Biennale. This week, artist Derrick Adams (b. 1970) will install a banner version of his collage Heavy is the head that wears the crown (2026) on the facade of the Palazzetto dello sport Giobatta Gianquinto, near the Arsenale, one of the Biennale's central sites.

The work turns Kouoh's likeness into a vivid street-level image. In Adams's signature collage style, her face and arms are broken into geometric shapes, while the word“JOY” appears above her head, sending out golden rays. The presentation is being curated by Francesco Bonami, who said the project emerged after Kouoh's death, following a studio visit with Adams.

Bonami said Adams was already working on drawings dedicated to major Black figures in art, culture, politics, and music who had died. From there, the idea developed into a tribute to Kouoh, whose appointment as artistic director had been closely watched across the art world. Bonami recalled first meeting her when he invited her to serve on the Golden Lion jury for his 2003 Biennale, and said they remained in contact over the years.

Adams said the work is meant to honor people who devote themselves to lifting others up, particularly when tragedy threatens to eclipse major achievements. He also stressed the importance of making the piece visible to locals and visitors alike, outside the private networks that often define Biennale season.

The timing gives the tribute added weight. The Biennale's professional previews begin this week, ahead of the public opening on May 9, when the art world will also encounter Kouoh's final exhibition. Bonami called her passing a tragic and unprecedented turn, but said her ideas and presence endure through the work she left behind.

Adams's banner extends that sense of continuity into the city itself. By placing Kouoh's portrait in public view, the project frames remembrance not as a closed gesture, but as part of the Biennale's larger civic and cultural life.

MENAFN04052026005694012507ID1111066037