Exploration of South African origins displayed through artwork by William Kentridge
William Kentridge, a contemporary artist born in 1955, is set to have a comprehensive exhibition in September 2025, spanning across several venues in Dresden and Essen, Germany. The show, titled "Listen to the Echo," is a celebration of Kentridge's expansive artistic oeuvre and will run from September 4, 2025, to January 18, 2026.
Kentridge, whose parents were Jewish anti-apartheid lawyers and human rights campaigners, came to global prominence in the late 1980s and 1990s for his animated short films that critiqued the South African apartheid government while telling personal stories. His father, Sydney Kentridge, represented South African leaders such as Nobel Peace Prize winners Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu.
The exhibitions in Dresden and Essen are exploring themes such as colonialism, social utopias, and the relationship between power and art. The "Listen to the Echo" exhibition traces Kentridge's artistic development from the late 1970s, when deep racial divisions persisted in his homeland.
In Dresden, the Albertinum modern art museum will feature new sound and video installations, including the film "Oh to Believe in Another World" (2022), which utilizes the music of Dmitri Shostakovich and explores the fragile relationship between power and art, themed around the limits of artistic utopias.
The ceremonial procession, complete with choir and band, will march through downtown Dresden to coincide with the opening of the exhibition. Meanwhile, Dresden's Kraftwerk Mitte museum is hosting "The Centre for the Less Good Idea," a space for cross-disciplinary ideas combining text, performance, image, and dance.
The show includes drawings, films, prints, sculptures, tapestries, and multi-channel film installations. Kentridge has invested the full breadth of his artistic vision in the shows, with collaborations on the organization and curation of the exhibitions in Dresden and Essen.
Kentridge stated that the idea of being an artist is to explore the world through various mediums, which is to say to explore one's relationship to the world as an artist. His work also tells personal stories, making the exhibitions a must-see for art enthusiasts.
The "Listen to the Echo" exhibition is not just a showcase of Kentridge's art but also a journey through his life and the socio-political climate of South Africa and the world. Don't miss this opportunity to immerse yourself in the thought-provoking and poignant works of this remarkable artist.
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