The Organizing Committee of La Biennale di Venezia has announced the list of 111 artists participating in the main exhibition of the 61st International Art Exhibition, which includes Korean-born artists Gala Porras-Kim and Michael Joo, as well as Korean artist Yo-E Ryou.
 
Opening on May 9, the 61st International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia, 《In Minor Key》, is the final exhibition conceived by the late Cameroonian curator Koyo Kouoh, who passed away last year.
 
Marking a historic moment in the Biennale’s 130-year history, the main exhibition was originally curated by Koyo Kouoh—the first African woman to serve as artistic director—drawing widespread anticipation. Following her passing during the preparation period last year, the exhibition is now being realized under the guidance of the advisory team she appointed.

The exhibition, 《In Minor Key》, borrows its title from the musical term “minor key,” proposing a slowing down and an attunement to lower frequencies.
 
In her curatorial note, Koyo Kouoh wrote, “Though often lost in the anxious cacophony of the present chaos raging through the world, the music continues,” adding, “The songs of those producing beauty in spite of tragedy, the tunes of the fugitives recovering from the ruins, the harmonies of those repairing wounds and worlds.”
 
If the minor key in music evokes melancholy and sorrow, the exhibition recontextualizes it as a register of recovery—one that whispers hope amid turmoil.

The three Korean and Korean diasporic artists participating in the exhibition—Gala Porras-Kim, Michael Joo, and Yo-E Ryou—each present works that offer poetic gestures of solace from their own distinct perspectives.
 
Michael Joo brings conceptual installations that intertwine ecological, scientific, and historical narratives, while Yo-E Ryou develops a practice grounded in “hydrofeminism,” taking “water, women, and Jeju” as key motifs to envision humans as beings fundamentally interconnected with other forms of life on Earth.

Offering new perspectives on language, history, nature, and objects as shaped under human-made systems, Gala Porras-Kim’s work will be presented as a special project of La Biennale di Venezia and Victoria and Albert Museum, London, at the Applied Arts Pavilion in the Arsenale.
 
Meanwhile, the Korean Pavilion at the Biennale will be overseen by artistic director Binna Choi and will feature works by artists Hyeree Ro and Goen Choi.

References

• 제61회 베니스 비엔날레 본전시 참여 작가 목록 ([List] Participating Artists of 61st International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia)
• 뉴시스, 베니스비엔날레 본전시 작가 111명 확정…韓, 마이클주·요이 2명, 2026.02.27
• 서울경제, 요이 작가, 베니스비엔날레 본 전시 참여, 2026.03.03