THE OPEN MOMENT | GHOSTS & SHADOWS: AN EXHIBITION IN THE MAKING
On Wednesday 16 April 2025, The Centre for the Less Good Idea hosted an Open Moment led by co-founders of The Centre, Bronwyn Lace and William Kentridge.
Ghosts & Shadows: An exhibition in the making emerged from ongoing workshops at The Centre towards two international exhibitions in 2025, in Italy and Germany, as part of The Centre Outside the Centre, which is led by Lace. These exhibitions were Unhappen, Unhappen, Unhappen – Pepper’s Ghost Dioramas at the Ex-Battistero Manna d’Oro, Spoleto, and A Resonance Room for People and Puppets at the Kraftwerk Mitte, Dresden.
Central to these exhibitions is the Pepper’s Ghost Diorama, jointly conceptualised by the Kentridge Studio and The Centre for the Less Good Idea. These mobile, modular dioramas allow for the production of illusory miniature scenes and shifting, perpetual performances, developed using mirror, lighting, and projection techniques.
L-R: Bronwyn Lace & William Kentridge lead The Open Moment: Ghosts & Shadows. Photographer | Zivanai Matangi.
Led by Kentridge and Lace, in conversation with artists included in the exhibition, The Open Moment shared the processes of creating a series of Pepper's Ghost Dioramas, tracing the evolution from the large-scale Pepper’s Ghost format into the dioramas, the scenographic interventions required, and the The Centre’s enduring methodology of a collective way of shaping and making.
Moving between The Centre Space and the 2nd Space, a roving audience was able to witness the completed dioramas, as well as the process works, with video editors, compositors, artists and musicians present.
While Katlego Letsholonyane speaks to the process of embodying and playing with language through Mayakovsky, Micca Manganye demonstrates the process of finding musicality in the everyday with Hands. Similarly, Anathi Conjwa reflects on her workTata, and the use of the Pepper’s Ghost Diorama to bring new life to memory.
Alongside the dioramas, artists Tony Miyambo and Thulani Chauke shared the making of experimental table-top theatre and shadow-dance installations, respectively, which also feature in the exhibitions.
— David Mann
A crowd gathers to watch William Kentridge’s ‘Mayakovsky’ in the Pepper’s Ghost Diorama. Photographer | Zivanai Matangi.
CREDITS:
CONCEPTUALISERS | William Kentridge & Bronwyn Lace
ARTISTS | Thulani Chauke, Anathi Conjwa, Katlego Letsholonyane, Micca Manganye, Neo Muyanga, Tony Miyambo & Octavia Sonyane
MOMENTEUR FOR THE SO ACADEMY | Athena Mazarakis