It is with great sadness that we learned of the death of Koyo Kouoh, who died unexpectedly on the night of May 9-10. Only last December, she had been appointed curator of the 61st Venice Art Biennale, which she would have been the first black woman to head next year.

The US video and installation artist Dara Birnbaum (1946-2025) has died at the age of 78. With her media and socially critical work, the three-time documenta participant was one of the most important pioneers of video art from the mid-1970s onwards.

Karl Oskar Blase, the “face of documenta”, would have turned one hundred years old on March 24, 2025. The Kassel-based graphic designer and professor of art and visual communication had been working for documenta since 1964 and had a unique influence on its appearance. To celebrate his milestone birthday, the documenta archiv is dedicating a multimedia studio exhibition to him in its Reading Room.