William Kentridge's Coffee-Pot Self-Portraits and Negritude Opera at LUMA Arles and Venice
In 2024, William Kentridge will unveil two exhibitions and a new opera. 'Self-Portrait as a Coffee-Pot' is showcased at the Arsenale Institute for Politics of Representation in Venice, running until November 24, 2024, and includes nine digital animations created during the 2020 COVID-19 lockdown. Meanwhile, 'Je n'attends plus' at LUMA Arles will be available until January 12, 2025, featuring the video installations 'Oh to Believe in Another World' and 'More Sweetly Play the Dance'. Kentridge's chamber opera, 'The Great Yes, The Great No,' was performed at LUMA Arles from July 7-10, 2024, in collaboration with the Festival d'Aix-en-Provence, and includes a seven-woman chorus singing in isiZulu, isiXhosa, and siSwati. Other works include 'Samson' and 'Iphigénie en Aulide – Iphigénie en Tauride'.
Key facts
- William Kentridge has two exhibitions in 2024: 'Self-Portrait as a Coffee-Pot' at Arsenale Institute for Politics of Representation, Venice (until Nov 24, 2024) and 'Je n'attends plus' at LUMA Arles (until Jan 12, 2025).
- The Venice exhibition features nine short digital animations made during the 2020 COVID-19 lockdown, designed for smartphones.
- The Arles exhibition includes the video installation 'Oh to Believe in Another World' and 'More Sweetly Play the Dance'.
- Kentridge's chamber opera 'The Great Yes, The Great No' was performed at LUMA Arles July 7-10, 2024, co-produced with the Festival d'Aix-en-Provence.
- The opera reimagines the 1941 voyage of the ship Capitaine-Paul-Lemerle from Marseille to Martinique carrying André Breton, Claude Lévi-Strauss, Wifredo Lam, and Anna Seghers.
- The opera features masks of historical figures including Lenin, Stalin, Trotsky, Mayakovsky, Lili Brik, Josephine Bonaparte, Frantz Fanon, the Nardal sisters, Josephine Baker, Aimé Césaire, and Suzanne Césaire.
- The chorus of seven women sings in isiZulu, isiXhosa, and siSwati.
- The title 'Je n'attends plus' quotes Suzanne Césaire, a figure of the Negritude movement who burned her writings before her death.
Entities
Artists
- William Kentridge
- Nhlanhla Mahlangu
- Phala O. Phala
- Tlale Makhene
- Teresa Phuti Mojela
- Thulani Chauke
- André Breton
- Claude Lévi-Strauss
- Wifredo Lam
- Anna Seghers
- Emmanuel Kant
- Dmitri Shostakovich
- Oscar Schlemmer
- Marcel Janco
- Constantin Cavafy
- Suzanne Césaire
- Aimé Césaire
- Frantz Fanon
- Josephine Baker
- Josephine de Beauharnais
- the Nardal sisters
- Vladimir Lenin
- Joseph Stalin
- Leon Trotsky
- Vladimir Mayakovsky
- Lili Brik
- Claus Guth
- Raphaël Pichon
- Andréa Ferréol
- Jarrett Ott
- Jacquelyn Stucker
- Léa Desandre
- Dmitri Tcherniakov
- Emmanuelle Haïm
- Corinne Winters
- Florian Sempey
- Véronique Gens
- Pierre Audi
Institutions
- Arsenale Institute for Politics of Representation
- LUMA Arles
- Festival d'Aix-en-Provence
- Cabaret Voltaire
- Sorbonne
- Théâtre de l'Archevêché
- Grand Théâtre de Provence
- artpress
Locations
- Venice
- Italy
- Arles
- France
- Marseille
- Martinique
- Zurich
- Switzerland
- Gaza
- Crimée
- Russia
- Algeria
- Caribbean
- South Africa
Sources
- artpress —