Okwui Enwezor will step down as director of the Haus der Kunst in Munich due to health issues.

The Nigerian curator had been at the helm of the German institution since 2011. During that time, he became the first African artistic director of the Venice Biennale, when he curated the 2015 edition, “All the World’s Futures.” The resignation is immediate, Enwezor told The Art Newspaper, though he did not elaborate on the current state of his health. “There is never an ideal time to say goodbye, but I am leaving at a time when Haus der Kunst has achieved a strong artistic position,” he said.

Enwezor has been one of the most famous and sought-after curators in the world since he was tapped to curate the eleventh edition of Documenta, the taste-making exhibition that takes place every five years in Kassel, Germany. In 2009, alongside Chika Okeke-Agulu, he published the influential Contemporary African Art Since 1980, and since arriving at Haus der Kunst he has overseen a renovation by the architect David Chipperfield. The Bavarian cultural minister Marion Kiechle said that a successor has not yet been chosen, and during the search chief curator Ulrich Wilmes and commercial director Bernhard Spies will act as the interim directors.