Koyo Kouoh, the Cameroon-born curator who was director of Zeitz Mocaa in Cape Town and had been invited to curate next year’s Venice Biennale died on 10 May. There has been an outpouring of moving tributes to Kouoh from artists, curators and gallerists across the world, and Ben Luke speaks to Nolan Oswald Dennis, the Johannesburg-based artist who has a current show at Zeitz, and Liza Essers, the owner and director of Goodman Gallery, about her life and work.
One of five shortlisted designs in the Queen Elizabeth II National Memorial competition
Courtesy of the Cabinet Office
A design competition for the Queen Elizabeth II National Memorial in St James’s Park in London has been launched, with five designs competing for the commission. We talk to Sandy Nairne, the former director of the National Portrait Gallery in London, who is on the committee tasked with choosing the winning design.
Jasper John’s Regrets, 2013
Collection of Marguerite Steed Hoffman. Photo: Jerry L. Thompson, courtesy of the artist. ©2025 Jasper Johns / VAGA at Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York and DACS, London 2025
And this episode’s Work of the Week is Regrets, a painting from the series of that name made by in 2013. The work is discussed in a new book of writings on Johns by the former curator at the Museum of Modern Art and of the Venice Biennale in 2007, Robert Storr. We speak to Storr about the work.
- Nolan Oswald Dennis: Understudies is at Zeitz Mocaa in Cape Town until 27 July.
- Nolan Oswald Dennis: throwers, Gasworks, London, until 22 June.
- To see the five proposals for the Queen Elizabeth II National Memorial and give feedback visit competitions.malcolmreading.com/queenelizabethmemorial#overview.
The opportunity to give feedback on the designs will close on 19 May. - Robert Storr, Focal Points: Jasper Johns, HENI publishing, £19.99 (hb).
