María Magdalena Campos-Pons is among the 111 participants in In Minor Keys, the 61st International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia, on view May 9 – November 22, 2026.
Campos-Pons presents a new installation with collaborator Kamaal Malak in the Giardini, a work that participates in one of the exhibition's guiding conceptual threads: the creole garden and the courtyard as sites of imaginative freedom, self-reliance, and collective nourishment. The work draws on the tradition of créolité and the lakou as, in poet Monchoachi's words, "the place of exchange… the place from which speech unfolds from different and keeps it gathered and in harmony."
The exhibition was conceived by curator Koyo Kouoh, who passed away in May 2025, and whose vision has been realized by her team in her honor.
Performances
The performances of In Minor Keys center the body as a site of knowledge and memory, as well as a political vessel for collective resistance and healing.
A procession of poets will take place in the Giardini della Biennale, inspired by Kouoh’s Poetry Caravan, a voyage Kouoh undertook with nine African poets from Dakar to Timbuktu in 1999. On Thursday, May 7 at 3 pm, Campos-Pons will take part in this procession through the Giardini, honoring Kouoh's memory while opening space for poetry, storytelling, and collective invocation.
Campos-Pons and Malak will also perform at the Arsenale's Teatro Tese dei Soppalchi on Wednesday, May 6 at 5 pm and again on Saturday, May 9 at 4 pm.
Resonance in Venice
Alongside their participation in In Minor Keys, María Magdalena Campos-Pons and Kamaal Malak have also initiated Resonance: Vanderbilt University in Venice, a palazzo-based platform for exhibitions and public programs on view May 10 – July 10, 2026 at Fondazione Giorgio e Armanda Marchesani on Fondamenta Rossa in Dorsoduro.
Curated by Grace Aneiza Ali and Selene Wendt, and presented in collaboration with Vanderbilt University through the Engine for Art, Democracy and Justice, Resonance transforms a historic Venetian palazzetto into a living forum for performance, dialogue, and artistic exchange. Gallery Wendi Norris artist Ambreen Butt will present works alongside Carrie Mae Weems, Deborah Willis, and dozens of other artists.
Campos-Pons and Malak serve as Artistic Directors and will formally introduce Resonance at its opening on May 10, followed by a sonic intervention as a poetic gesture of welcome, as part of a full-day program entitled A Gathering in the Key of Resonance.
