The 2025 edition of the 1-54 Forum will return to the heart of the 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair with a profound and resonant theme, dedicated this year to honouring the legacy of its founder, the late visionary curator Koyo Kouoh (1967–2025). Titled “On Institution Building as a Curatorial Practice,” the one-day discursive program, curated by RAW Material Company—the Dakar-based centre for art, knowledge, and society also founded by Kouoh—will pay tribute to her transformative impact on the global art world.
The Forum, scheduled for Friday, October 17, 2025, at Somerset House in London, follows a brief hiatus and is centred around a core tenet of Kouoh’s career: the notion of building cultural infrastructure as a creative, curatorial act in itself.
A Legacy of Radical Infrastructure
Kouoh, who played a crucial role in conceptualising and developing the 1-54 Forum since the fair’s inception in 2013, passed away in May 2025, leaving an indelible mark across global art institutions, including her leadership at Zeitz MOCAA in Cape Town and her historic appointment as the first African woman curator of the 2026 Venice Biennale, for which her vision, “In Minor Keys,” will be carried out posthumously.
The 2025 Forum program, led by RAW Material Company, aims to unpack the ways in which cultural infrastructures can be “imagined, sustained, and shared.” The day will feature opening reflections, conversations, and artistic gestures, providing a critical platform for practitioners who have redefined what cultural institutions can be, particularly in African and African diasporic contexts.
Key Conversations Unpack Sustenance and Future
A central discussion, also titled “On Institution Building as a Curatorial Practice,” is set to explore how building an institution functions as a creative, curatorial act. Inspired directly by Kouoh’s philosophy, this talk is slated to bring together influential figures such as Bonaventure Soh Bejeng Ndikung (SAVVY Contemporary, Haus der Kulturen der Welt), Ibrahim Mahama (SCCA Tamale), and Maria Magdalena Campos Pons (Rios Intermittentes). Moderated by Marie Hélène Pereira (RAW Material Company, Haus der Kulturen der Welt), the panel will reflect on the challenges and possibilities of shaping cultural organisations that are simultaneously locally grounded and globally connected, viewing institutional practice as a site of creativity, solidarity, and resistance.
A second major conversation, “On Possible Futures and the question of Sustainability,” shifts focus to the practicalities of enduring cultural work. It will convene practitioners exploring how funding, support structures, and collective strategies can shape artistic and institutional futures. Speakers, including Teesa Bahana (32° East), Sepake Angiama (Iniva), and Yto Barrada (Cinémathèque de Tanger), will share insights on creating, sustaining, and expanding platforms for contemporary art across Africa and beyond. This discussion, moderated by Haja Fanta (RAW Material Company), will focus on nurturing experimentation and resilience while imagining futures that are both realistic and equitable.
Artistic and Sonic Tributes
The Forum is interwoven with artistic tributes throughout the day, including a Performative Gesture “On Radical Love” by Maria Magdalena Campos-Pons & Kamaal Malak, a Poetic Gesture by Simon Njami, and a Sonic Gesture (DJ set) to close the day by Rokia Bamba. The programme also includes a Film Screening by Eric Baudelaire, introduced by Gabe Feijoo, one of Kouoh’s collaborators on the Venice Biennale.
The 1-54 Forum 2025, curated by RAW Material Company in tribute to their founder, promises to be a vital gathering for critical dialogue, solidifying Kouoh’s enduring influence and calling for the continued cultivation of self-determined spaces within the global art landscape. Attendance to the Forum is accessible to valid 1-54 ticket holders.
