Elvira Dyangani Ose to Succeed Koyo Kouoh as Artistic Director of Zeitz MOCAA

Spanish curator Elvira Dyangani Ose has today been announced as the new artistic director of Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa (MOCAA), a role previously held by Venice Biennale curator Koyo Kouoh from 2019 until her sudden death in May 2025.

Known for her longstanding commitment to artists from Africa and its diaspora, Dyangani Ose will take up her role at the South African institution on 1 October.

“It is a privilege to join Zeitz MOCAA,” Dyangani Ose said in a statement. “I am thrilled to come on board at this moment to continue its journey as a leading African institution with global reach.” 

Dyangani Ose, currently artistic director of the second Public Art Abu Dhabi Biennial (2026–2027), has also held the role of director at Museu d’Art Contemporani de Barcelona and The Showroom in New York City, as well as curatorial roles at Tate Modern and Creative Time. She is known for combining this international experience with a pan-African outlook and has been recognised for her collaborative leadership and institution-building. 

She said: “I look forward to working alongside the museum’s remarkable team, artists, supporters, and the local and global communities, building upon its extraordinary foundation by fostering meaningful collaborations and artistic exchanges across cultures and geographies.”

The curator is currently a doctoral candidate in Cornell University’s history of art and visual studies programme, and previously served as a member of the Golden Lion jury at this year’s Venice Biennale. Alongside her four fellow jurors, she resigned before the biennale opened, with the group stating that they would not consider for awards any countries whose leaders have been charged with crimes against humanity by the International Criminal Court—a statement widely understood to refer to both Israel and Russia.

David Green, co-founder and co-chair of Zeitz MOCAA, said: “Dyangani Ose’s appointment reflects who we are as an institution—one rooted in Africa, while connected to the world. She will oversee the museum’s curatorial vision and direction, leading the institution through its next chapter as it approaches its second decade—building on the late Koyo Kouoh’s legacy and her extraordinary artistic vision and the institutional foundations she built.”

Zeitz MOCAA opened in 2017 in former grain silos in Cape Town, billing itself as “the world’s largest museum dedicated to contemporary art from Africa and its diaspora”. Kouoh’s appointment followed an inquiry into the professional conduct of former executive director and chief curator Mark Coetzee.

Kouoh was widely credited with restoring equilibrium to the institution, as well as creating programmes designed to address Cape Town’s class and social divisions, including a residency for the city’s artists. 

Dyangani Ose told The New York Times that she plans to continue building Kouoh’s vision of Zeitz MOCAA as a “publicly engaged, Pan-African museum”. She added: “This museum is and must continue to be a public institution. A truly public institution—one that merits the designation—is accountable to its public in the deepest sense.” 

Jochen Zeitz, the museum’s other co-founder and co-chair after whom the institution is named, said: “Dyangani Ose joins Zeitz MOCAA at a defining moment in our journey. As we approach our 10th anniversary, her appointment builds on the foundations laid in our first decade. 

“She brings deep experience in institutional leadership and will expand the museum’s artistic ambition—across exhibitions, research, collections, public engagement, and the way we work with artists and audiences.”