News

WOLFGANG LAIB | Solo Show | Touching the Essentials | Kunsthaus Zürich

The solo exhibition Touching the Essential by Wolfgang Laib is on view at Kunsthaus Zürich from October 3, 2025, to October 2, 2026, as part of the ReCollect! series. The German artist, renowned for his minimalist works made from natural materials such as pollen, beeswax, milk, rice, and stone, personally curated the exhibition, creating a dialogue between about 50 of his pieces and around 30 masterpieces from the museum’s permanent collection, spanning from the Middle Ages to the 20th century. Among Laib’s works on display are large pollen installations, stone sculptures shaped like eggs called Brahmanda, walk-in beeswax rooms, rice houses, a lacquered staircase, as well as photographs and drawings that reflect his deep exploration of spirituality, meditation, and the relationship with nature.

• Kunsthaus Zürich
• Heimpl. 1/5, 8001 Zürich
• 3 ottobre 2025 – 4 ottobre 2026

WILLIAM KENTRIDGE | Performance | The Great Yes, The Great No |Grand Theatre de Luxembourg

From October 25 to 26, 2025, the Grand Théâtre in Luxembourg will host The Great Yes, The Great No, the latest musical work by South African artist William Kentridge. This production, which blends theater, oratorio, and chamber opera, was created in collaboration with co-director and choral composer Nhlanhla Mahlangu, co-director Phala Ookeditse Phala, and dramaturge Mwenya Kabwe. The opera is inspired by a historic 1941 journey from Marseille to Martinique aboard the ship Capitaine Paul Lemerle, which carried refugees and intellectuals such as Anna Seghers, Claude Lévi-Strauss, and André Breton. Within the opera, Captain Charon, a figure from Greek mythology, guides the audience through this narrative, accompanied by a seven-member choir. The characters are represented through cardboard masks and projections of a miniature ship model, while the libretto includes writings by authors such as Bertolt Brecht, Anna Akhmatova, Wislawa Szymborska, Marina Tsvetaeva, and others. The opera will be performed in eight languages: English, French, isiSwati, isiZulu, isiXhosa, Setswana, Xitsonga, and Sepedi, with subtitles in German and English.

• Grand Theatre de Luxembourg
• 1 Bd Robert Schuman, 2525 Ville-Haute Luxembourg
• 25 – 26 ottobre 2025

WILLIAM KENTRIDGE | Performance | The Great Yes, The Great No | Berliner Festspiele

From October 16 to 18, 2025, the Haus der Berliner Festspiele will host the Berlin premiere of The Great Yes, The Great No, the latest musical work by the renowned South African artist William Kentridge. This production, which blends theater, oratorio, and chamber opera, was created in collaboration with co-director and choral composer Nhlanhla Mahlangu, co-director Phala Ookeditse Phala, and dramaturge Mwenya Kabwe. The opera is inspired by a historic 1941 journey from Marseille to Martinique aboard the ship Capitaine Paul Lemerle, which carried refugees and intellectuals such as Anna Seghers, Claude Lévi-Strauss, and André Breton. Within the opera, Captain Charon, a figure from Greek mythology, guides the audience through this narrative, accompanied by a seven-member choir. The characters are represented through cardboard masks and projections of a miniature ship model, while the libretto includes writings by authors such as Bertolt Brecht, Anna Akhmatova, Wislawa Szymborska, Marina Tsvetaeva, and others. The opera will be performed in eight languages: English, French, isiSwati, isiZulu, isiXhosa, Setswana, Xitsonga, and Sepedi, with subtitles in German and English. In addition to the performances, on October 18 at 5:30 PM, there will be a free screening of Kentridge’s Slade Lecture No. 6 film, titled In Defence of Optimism, recorded at the University of Oxford in 2024.

• Haus der Berliner Festspiele
• Schaperstraße 24, 10719 Berlin, Germany
• 16 – 18 ottobre 2025

WILLIAM KENTRIDGE | Performance | Sibyl | Powerhouse Arts

At Powerhouse Arts in Brooklyn, from October 8 to 11, 2025, the U.S. premiere of Sibyl, a multimedia work by the renowned South African artist William Kentridge, will take place. The event is part of the inaugural Powerhouse: International festival, curated by David Binder, which presents a series of innovative artistic performances across various venues in Brooklyn. Sibyl is a two-part production: the first part, The Moment Has Gone, is an animated film accompanied by an original piano score by Kyle Shepherd and a male choir directed by Nhlanhla Mahlangu; the second part, Waiting for the Sibyl, is a chamber opera that reinterprets the Greek myth of the Sibyl through ten singers and dancers performing against hand-painted backgrounds, ink projections, collages, and shadow play. The work explores universal themes such as the human desire to know the future and the forces that obscure it, combining visual arts, music, and dance into an immersive experience. The production received the 2023 Olivier Award for Outstanding Contribution to Opera. The performance takes place in the historic Grand Hall of Powerhouse Arts, a former industrial facility transformed into a cultural space, offering the audience a multisensory experience that explores the intersection of visual art, music, and contemporary theater.

• Powerhouse Arts
• 322 3rd Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11215, USA
• 8 – 11 ottobre 2025

ALFREDO JAAR | Bienal de Arte y Ciudad de Bogotá - BOG2025 | Studies on Happiness

At the Bienal Internacional de Arte y Ciudad de Bogotá 2025 (BOG25), Chilean artist Alfredo Jaar presented his famous work Estudios sobre la felicidad (1981), an installation that challenges the audience with the question: “¿Es usted feliz?” (“Are you happy?”). This visual provocation was included in the exhibition Nunca fuimos felices by Peruvian artist José Carlos Martinat, held at the Edificio CAR in Bogotá. Through this simple yet powerful question, Jaar’s work encourages a deep reflection on the human condition and the pursuit of happiness—universal themes that resonate strongly within the contemporary urban context.

• Bienal de Arte y Ciudad, Bogotá
• 20 settembre – 9 novembre 2025

ALFREDO JAAR | Prix Pictet 2025 - Storm

On September 25, 2025, Chilean artist Alfredo Jaar won the eleventh edition of the Prix Pictet, a prestigious international award that combines photography and sustainability. He received the recognition for his photographic series titled The End, exhibited at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. This series focuses on the Great Salt Lake in Utah, a vital ecosystem that is rapidly drying up due to excessive water extraction, described by scientists as a “nuclear environmental bomb.” Jaar chose to represent this environmental tragedy through images of great beauty and sadness, printed in a small and discreet format, almost like a “visual whisper,” a silent lament for the suffering planet.

PAOLO ICARO | Opere in Lutto

For several months now, works by Paolo Icaro in museums and public spaces have been covered by the artist himself, as a sign of mourning for Gaza.

• 1 agosto 2025

MARINA ABRAMOVIĆ | Solo Show | Counting The Rice | Centre Pompidou-Metz

The exhibition Counting the Rice by Marina Abramović at the Centre Pompidou-Metz is a participatory installation in which visitors are invited to sit at a table and manually separate thousands of grains of rice and lentils. The gesture is simple, repetitive, and meditative, yet rich in meaning. Through this practice, Abramović invites the public to slow down, focus, listen inwardly, and enter a state of deep presence, almost ritualistic. It’s not just about observing a work of art, but about becoming part of it: the participant becomes the performer. The piece raises questions about our relationship with time, repetition, silence, and mental endurance in an increasingly fast-paced world. A daily action like sorting grains is transformed into a symbolic, almost spiritual act.

• Centre Pompidou-Metz
• 1 Parv. des Droits de l'Homme CS 90490, 57000 Metz, France
• 8 maggio – 20 ottobre 2025

MARINA ABRAMOVIĆ | Solo Show | Albertina Museum

The Marina Abramović exhibition at the Albertina Modern in Vienna is a major retrospective tracing the artist’s entire career, from her early works in the 1970s to her most recent pieces. At the heart of the exhibition is the body as an artistic tool and a symbol of resistance, transformation, and ritual. The show features iconic performances such as the Rhythm series, her collaborations with Ulay, participatory works, and recent installations. It also addresses themes like communism, Balkan identity, spirituality, and the relationship with nature. This is an immersive and intense experience that invites the audience to reflect on the meaning of the body, time, and art itself.

• Albertina Museum
• Albertinapl. 1, 1010 Wien
• 10 ottobre 2025 – 1 marzo 2026