Koyo Kouoh

Executive Director and Chief Curator, Zeitz MOCAA, Cape Town

Appointed the executive director and chief curator at Zeitz MOCAA in Cape Town in March 2019, the Cameroonian-born Koyo Kouoh has already made a significant impression, launching an ambitious programme of symposia, summits and special commissions as well as overseeing a landmark survey of work by the Nigerian-born artist Otobong Nkanga. Previously, Kouoh was the artistic director of RAW Material Company, an exhibition space, artists’ residency and centre for critical education in Dakar that was founded by Kouoh in 2008. As an independent curator, Kouoh has organised exhibitions internationally – including a touring group show of works by African women artists, including Nkanga and Tracey Rose, that debuted at Wiels, Brussels in 2015; the 37th EVA International in Limerick in 2016; and ‘Dig Where You Stand’, an exploration of colonial histories as represented through objects from the collections of the Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh, in 2018. Kouoh also served on the curatorial teams for Documenta 12 and 13 (2007/12) and has published numerous critical works, including the upcoming Breathing Out of School: The RAW Académie and Condition Report on Art History in Africa (both co-edited with Ugochukwu-Smooth C. Nzewi et al).

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