William Kentridge awarded the 2024 Folkwang Prize
- Wits Alumni Relations
Witsie acknowledged for his outstanding services to the promotion and communication of art.
Internationally renowned artist William Kentridge (BA 1977, DLitt honoris causa 2004) will be awarded the 2024 International Folkwang Prize.
Since 2010, the prize has been awarded by the Folkwang-Museumsverein (FMV), which is very closely linked with Museum Folkwang, to personalities who have rendered outstanding services to the promotion and communication of art in the spirit of the museum’s founder Karl Ernst Osthaus (1874–1921).
Osthaus was not only one of the most important German art collectors and patrons of the arts at the beginning of the 20th century, he was also a visionary of modernism and a new unity of the arts. His first cultural project was the establishment of a museum in Hagen, which was named the Folkwang Museum.
The award ceremony will take place on 4 November 2024 as part of the annual reception in Essen. Previous prize-winners include Hans Ulrich Obrist (2015), Okwui Enwezor (2017) and Barbara Klemm (2021).
William Kentridge said: “I am delighted to receive this prize. I am very pleased to be in the company of Okwui Enweor and Hans Ulrich-Obrist, who have been instrumental in bringing art from outside of Europe into proper consideration and helping us to understand the value of an outside perspective on Europe.
"In my work over the years, many projects have drawn on German texts and German artists, or texts in the German language. These include an exhibition juxtaposing my work with the work of Dürer in Berlin, to theatre productions based on the work of Büchner and Goethe, and operas by Mozart and Alban Berg (not German by nationality but written in the German language). There have been a number of exhibitions and projects realised at German institutions, and it is a great pleasure to be making an exhibition next year in Essen and Dresden.”
Kentridge became internationally renowned in the 1990s with animated short films based on charcoal drawings and thematising the history of South Africa in the 20th century. Drawings remain the basis of his multifaceted work to this day, which also includes prints, sculpture and tapestry. His art is dedicated to themes such as colonialism and social utopias and takes a stand for human rights and human dignity. Kentridge’s activities in the field of performing arts are inextricably linked to his visual art. He has developed pieces for puppet theatre and directed productions at the world’s major opera houses. For some years now, he has been devising his own chamber operas in close, cross-genre collaboration with composers, musicians, performers and set designers.
The FMV said in a statement that “Kentridge combines art and life and thus transcends the boundaries between the visual and performing arts.”
He was commended for his work at The Centre for the Less Good Idea in Johannesburg, that he started with fellow Wits alumna Bronwyn Lace (BA FA 2005) in 2016: “With The Centre for the Less Good Idea in Johannesburg, which has quickly established itself as a highly regarded artistic laboratory – Kentridge promotes young creative talent and makes an important contribution to the international recognition and communication of artistic positions from the African continent.”
Read latest Wits Review about the work of The Centre for the Less Good Idea.
In recognition of these achievements, Kentridge will receive 10 000 euros.
To mark Kentridge’s 70th birthday, Museum Folkwang and the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden are organising a joint exhibition project with the artist. It will be on show in Essen and Dresden from September 2025 onwards.
Source: Museum Folkwang