An exhibition dedicated to the South African artist William Kentridge is announced, opening this summer. It marks the first museum presentation outside South Africa to focus on his sculptural output.
The project includes works created between 2007 and 2024. The exhibition will unfold in the Underground Gallery, with outdoor installations located in the adjacent gardens. Over the last two decades, sculpture has taken a central position in Kentridge’s practice, translating drawing into three-dimensional works and deriving from elements of puppetry, film, and set design.
This exhibition will present a selection of the artist’s sculptures, varying in scale and materials. These include bronze, steel, paper, cardboard, plaster, wood, and found objects. Some works will be exhibited for the first time. Among these is a commission of six sculptures, “Paper Procession”, positioned within the YSP landscape.
It will be possible to view the first institutional presentation of “Self-Portrait as a Coffee Pot” (2020-24), a series of films whose production began during the first Covid-19 lockdown. Furthermore, the UK museum debut of the 7-channel film, “More Sweetly Play the Dance” (2015), will occur.
In the landscape, several bronze sculptures will be visible against the backdrop of an early 19th-century brick wall of the Bothy Garden. These sculptures, each over three meters in height, include a striding figure with a megaphone head, an ampersand, and a cat.