Karl Oskar Blase 100

Karl Oskar Blase would have been 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 the reading room.

In the words of Manfred Schneckenburger, the history of documenta is inseparably linked to the history of its signets: their vitality and austerity, their optimism and their disruptions always help to shape the exhibition. No designer can be described more aptly with these words than Karl Oskar Blase, born in Cologne in 1925, whose work as a multi-talent in applied and free art and theory can hardly be overestimated. As a designer of international standing, he conceived the graphics section of documenta 3 on the premises of the Werkkunstschule Kassel as early as 1964. He subsequently designed the signet, graphics and typography for documenta 4 (1968), documenta 5 (1972), documenta 6 (1977) and documenta 8 (1987).

Equally central is his conceptual contribution to Harald Szeemann's epochal documenta 5, the "Audiovisual Documentation". As part of the new "information structure", it comprised a steadily growing number of performance recordings, video interviews and conversations with artists, mediators and the public. During the exhibition, these recordings could be viewed by visitors on the first floor of the Museum Fridericianum. Five years later, the project was presented a second time in the "Videothek" of Schneckenburger's documenta 6.

Karl Oskar Blase 100 uses archival documents, drafts, project sketches and posters to provide an insight into more than four decades of design history and at the same time opens up perspectives on the diverse interweaving of graphic design, biography and contemporary history.

We would like to thank the ZKM: Center for Art and Media, Karlsruhe, for the loan of videos from the "Audiovisual Documentation".

Exhibition and concept: Julius Lehmann
Framing and restoration supervision: Arlett Sauermann
Installation: Kristiane Krüger and Knut Sippel
Support: Natalie Schmidt