The exhibition Unhappen Unhappen Unhappen – Pepper’s Ghost Dioramas at the Ex-Battistero Manna d’Oro premiered four Pepper’s Ghost performance dioramas developed by Anathi Conjwa, William Kentridge, Micca Manganye, and Sabine Theunissen. An exhibition by The Centre for the Less Good Idea, curated by Guy Robertson and Bronwyn Lace, Unhappen Unhappen Unhappen took place from 28 June to 27 July 2025.

The Pepper’s Ghost is a Victorian theatrical illusion technique which has become one of The Centre’s signature performance tools for investigating the way memory and history are transformed and distorted over time. The dioramas combine the Pepper’s Ghost technique with table-top theatre and puppetry, creating a layered and perpetual performance space in which long dormant archives can be re-activated and contested histories – relating to apartheid and colonialism, for example – are retold.

The Centre shared its philosophy and methods in a series of workshops and events, including a practical introduction to Pepper’s Ghost techniques, a live-composition workshop with silent film archives, and a performance lecture by William Kentridge.

The Centre for the Less Good Idea’s residency at the Mahler & LeWitt Studios, curated by Guy Robertson (Curator and Co-Director, Mahler & LeWitt Studios) and Bronwyn Lace, was produced by Carla Fendi Foundation and was part of a network of related events at the Spoleto Festival 68, including performances of Kentridge’s The Great Yes, The Great No which was incubated at The Centre. Kentridge also had a solo exhibition at Palazzo Collicola, Spoleto’s gallery of modern art.

While Kentridge’s Mayakovsky experiments with language and collage-like projected animation, Manganye’s Hands looks at the use of objects and the body as puppetry inside the diorama. Conjwa’s Tata is a deeply personal work and one that uses the Pepper’s Ghost as a tool for giving new life to memory. Finally, Theunissen’s work, made specifically for the Pepper’s Ghost diorama format, merges shadow, music, and animation to put forward a series of compelling performative vignettes.

The word ‘unhappen’ describes the process of reversing past trauma. Its nonsense, however, points to the impossibility of doing so. In the context of The Centre’s work, this trauma refers to histories of apartheid and colonisation, but also extends to difficult personal experiences. The repetition of ‘unhappen’ is conflicting: it both reinforces the memory, whilst acting like a mantra, or a prayer, which attempts a reconciliation with the past. The Pepper’s Ghost technique allows artists to lean into the past, question memory and create new stories.