Koyo Kouoh, 2026 Venice Art Biennale curator, dies suddenly at age 58

ROME (AP) — Koyo Kouoh, the curator of the 2026 Venice Art Biennale, has died at age 58, her home institution in South Africa said in an Instagram post Saturday.

The Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa in Cape Town in South Africa confirmed her passing overnight but gave no cause of death. The Biennale said Saturday it was “deeply saddened and dismayed” to learn of her death.

Kouoh was the first African woman tapped to helm the Venice Biennale. Born in Cameroon in 1967, she was tapped to curate the 2026 edition of the Biennale in December. A leading figure in promoting Pan-Africanism throughout the art world, Kouoh had been executive director and chief curator at Zeitz since 2019.

Appointed in December 2024 by the board of directors of La Biennale, Kouoh worked “with passion, intellectual rigor and vision on the conception and development of the Biennale Arte 2026,” the Venice arts institution said.

The presentation of the exhibition’s title and theme was due to take place in Venice on May 20.

“Her passing leaves an immense void in the world of contemporary art and in the international community of artists, curators, and scholars who had the privilege of knowing and admiring her extraordinary human and intellectual commitment,” the Biennale said.

It extended “its deepest sympathies and affection” to Kouoh’s family and friends, and “all those who shared with her a journey of research and critical thought on contemporary art.”

In a statement, Italy’s Premier Giorgia Meloni on Saturday expressed her “deepest condolences” for Kouoh’s “premature and sudden passing,” noting it “leaves a void in the world of contemporary art.”

FILE - Cameroonian-born curator Koyo Kouoh attends a conference at the New Africa-France Summit in Montpellier, France, Friday, Oct. 8, 2021. (Sarah Meyssonnier/Pool Photo via AP, File)

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump’s motorcade took a different route than usual to the airport as he was departing Florida on Sunday due to a “suspicious object,” according to the White House.

The object, which the White House did not describe, was discovered during security sweeps in advance of Trump’s arrival at Palm Beach International Airport.

“A further investigation was warranted and the presidential motorcade route was adjusted accordingly,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement Sunday.

The president, when asked about the package by reporters, said, “I know nothing about it.”

Trump left his Palm Beach, Florida, club, Mar-a-Lago, around 6:20 p.m. for the roughly 10-minute drive to the airport, but took a circular route around the city to get there.

During the drive, police officers on motorcycles created a moving blockade for the motorcade, at one point almost colliding with the vans that accompanied Trump.

Air Force One was parked on the opposite side of the airport from where it is usually located and the lights outside the plane were turned off.

Anthony Guglielmi, the spokesman for U.S. Secret Service, said the secondary route was taken just as a precaution and that “that is standard protocol.”

President Donald Trump departs Trump International Golf Club in the presidential limousine, known as The Beast, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in West Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)