FINDING THE LESS GOOD IDEA - LECTURE BY WILLIAM KENTRIDGE
9TH JULY 2025
CAIO MELISSO CARLA FENDI THEATRE - SPOLETO
In a crowded theatre, William Kentridge delivered one of his acclaimed lectures as part of the program of events connected to the project by Carla Fendi Foundation and Mahler & LeWitt Studios, developed in collaboration with The Centre for the Less Good Idea — the centre for performing arts founded in 2016 by Kentridge himself in Johannesburg. Created for Spoleto68 Festival dei Due Mondi, the project explores themes related to the search for “the less good idea.”
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William Kentridge’s encounter with the public became a true performative event, which the artist led on the stage of the Caio Melisso Carla Fendi Theatre, together with actor-performer Andrea Fabi and musician and Co-Director of The Centre for the Less Good Idea, Neo Muyanga. In a performance laced with subtle humor, weaving together poetry, storytelling, image, music, and video, Kentridge shared his personal vision of the creative process — one that begins with “the less good idea,” the idea that seems marginal to the main project but may unexpectedly lead to surprising conclusions, and can ultimately offer greater potentialities.
“What does it mean to follow the less good idea?” is the question Kentridge poses. Applying to his own experience a South African proverb that says, “If the good doctor can’t cure you, find the less good doctor,” Kentridge told the story of when he began working with his animated drawings using the charcoal drawing erasing technique. He recalled how frustrated he was by the grey trace that always remained around the drawing — something he could not remove by any means. Eventually, someone pointed out that it was precisely that lingering trace which made the drawings interesting. That’s when the artist realized that this “less good idea” was in fact what gave value to his work. But “the less good idea” also takes on broader meanings for Kentridge, including a scepticism toward grand ideas. “The history of the twentieth century has shown us the disasters that have attended every project that claimed certainty about how the world should be. When the grand ideas fail, find other more local, more particular, solutions” the artist concluded.
