The Future is Ours!
Die Zukunft gehört uns!

South Africa meets the Ruhr region. Music, theatre, performances and dialogue throughout the Schauspielhaus Bochum.

We are bringing the season to a close with a sensational festival: between the Ruhr region and the South African metropolis of Johannesburg – both shaped by massive processes of transformation – we are forging artistic ties and organising the circulation and connection of ideas, energy, knowledge and talent.

In 2016, William Kentridge, celebrated worldwide for his work in film, theatre, opera and the visual arts, and the visual and performance artist Bronwyn Lace founded the Centre for the Less Good Idea in the city centre of Johannesburg: a creative hotspot for experimental, collaborative and interdisciplinary art. A Tswana proverb often quoted by Kentridge sheds light on their way of thinking and working: “If the good doctor can’t cure you, find the less good doctor.” Here, it is precisely the (seemingly) imperfect, the incidental, the second idea that is celebrated. In the ten years of its existence, works by over 700 artists have been created and exhibited at the Centre for the Less Good Idea. Today, it is one of the most influential venues for art projects in South Africa, with a global reach.

For two weekends, the Schauspielhaus Bochum will become the venue for a festival where art is displayed and dialogue sought in every nook and cranny, from the main stage to the smallest space, from the foyer to the façade. South African artists and members of the Bochum ensemble combine their various (artistic) languages in Visual Radio Plays; William Kentridge invites you to the lecture performance A Defence of the Less Good Idea, followed by a Collapsed Concert; concerts, performances, talks and workshops form a vibrant programme.

At a time of growing cultural and economic divisions and the formation of extreme political fronts, this project, focused on togetherness and diversity, is our artistic response.

In collaboration with the Emmy Noether Research Group ‘Dramaturgies in the Afterlife of Violence: Transnational Theatre between Global South and North’ at the Institute for Theatre Studies, Ruhr University Bochum

Funded by the Kunststiftung NRW