Condition Report: Symposium on Building Art Institutions in Africa

by Koyo Kouoh (Editor), Abdellah Karroum (Contributor), Simon Njami (Contributor)

Condition Report is a collection of essays resulting from a symposium held in Dakar in 2012. They address the changing role of art institutions and initiatives in Africa, where government-led art programs and infrastructure predominate. These initiatives draw a new cartography of artistic activity in Africa.

296 pages, Paperback

First published February 28, 2014

About the author

Koyo Kouoh was a Cameroonian-Swiss curator who served as Executive Director and Chief Curator of the Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa in Cape Town from 2019 onwards. In 2015, the New York Times called her "one of Africa’s pre-eminent art curators and managers", and from 2014 to 2022, she was annually named one of the 100 most influential people in the contemporary art world by ArtReview.
Kouoh was raised in Cameroon and later Switzerland. As an adult, she moved to Dakar to build an art career, working as an independent curator and founding an artist's residency and exhibition space, the RAW Material Company. In 2019, she was appointed the director of the recently opened Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa. She was appointed to serve as the 2026 Venice Biennale's artistic director until her sudden death in May 2025.