IN MINOR KEYS

The official catalogue In Minor Keys consists of two volumes. Volume I is dedicated to the International Exhibition curated by Koyo Kouoh. Volume II is dedicated to the National Participations and Collateral Events. The Exhibition Guide has been conceived to accompany visitors throughout the exhibition path.

It was important to Koyo that the catalogue for In Minor Keys stand not only as a robust contribution to the archive, but also as an exemplar of the collaborative, cross-disciplinary, and intuitive mode of making that she convened. In the catalogue, this has meant, first and foremost, centring artists, with four-page spreads that afford space for a substantive short essay, as well as studio, sketch or process images that convey the ideas and worklife behind what is on view. Artists were invited to propose writers on their practice, resulting in an ensemble of over 100 authors, with texts that vary in approach and voice but benefit from closeness and insight. The catalogue opens with five “Invocations” – original literary interventions that do not directly address the exhibition and its contents but are prompted by its moment, its theme, and its circumstances. These texts are authored by Ken Bugul, Teju Cole, Natalie Diaz, Frieda Ekotto, and Abdaljawad Omar. Two “Shrines” follow, dedicated to the artists Issa Samb and Beverly Buchanan, with contributions by various authors, including Simon Njami, Elena Filipovic, Park McArthur and Jennifer Burris, Patricia Ekpo, Lucy Lippard, and Lowery Stokes Sims. The catalogue also features seven original critical essays (by Adrienne Edwards, Stefanie
Hessler, Miguel A. López, Hélio Menezes, Wanda Nanibush, Oluremi C. Onabanjo, and Françoise Vergès) that address thematics, composition, motifs or constellations of practices in the Exhibition, as well as issues in the making of a major international exhibition in the present time. A section of the book is devoted to the Schools: it features critical texts as well as images and original texts from each School that address their method and their exhibition presentation. The visual identity for In Minor Keys, along with the catalogue design, have been created by Clarissa Herbst in collaboration with Alex Sonderegger, following Koyo’s selection of Herbst. The design draws on komorebi, the Japanese term that designates the shifting and dappled effect of light filtered through leaves, to convey the relief found under the shade of a tree. Declined in shades of grey with subtle tonal gradients that balance evanescence and permanence, expressed on
posters, signage, and moving textile banners, the design aims for clarity and impact while connoting natural and cosmic modes of perception.