William Kentridge's Centre for the Less Good Idea Takes Over Fondation Cartier in Paris

From May 14 to 20, 2024, the Fondation Cartier in Paris hosts William Kentridge's Centre for the Less Good Idea, a nomadic laboratory of participatory art. Founded in 2016 in Johannesburg by Kentridge and Bronwyn Lace, the center fosters interdisciplinary experimentation, embracing the principle that even a 'less good idea' can spark innovation. For the first time, the Fondation Cartier (founded in 1984 by Alain-Dominique Perrin) welcomes an entire institution rather than a single artist, allowing the center to use both the exhibition spaces and the garden of Jean Nouvel's 1994 building on Boulevard Raspail. Around thirty artists from South Africa, Benin, Belgium, the Netherlands, and France will lead workshops, concerts, readings, screenings, and performances open to the public. Highlights include the opening performance lecture 'Collapses & Defences' on May 14, daily 'Showing the Making' sessions from 19:00 to 22:00, interdisciplinary performances like 'Pepper's Ghost' (a theatrical illusion combining live action and video), and the experimental music performance 'Sizendlebe | We are Ears' exploring translation complexity. This Paris residency precedes Kentridge's new opera production 'The Great Yes, the Great No,' debuting July 7, 2024, at the LUMA Foundation in Arles.