William Kentridge: Self-Portrait as a Coffee Pot

About the production

»Self-Portrait as a Coffee Pot« is the bizarre title of a cabinet exhibition at Dieselkraftwerk Cottbus, the core of which consists of a nine-episode film series by South African artist William Kentridge.

The film collages are made up of charcoal and pastel drawings, some of which are animated, filmed objects and assemblages that seem to have come to life, as well as studio shots. Here, Kentridge reveals the process of creating art, but also of reflecting on art and art-making in relation to social realities. Created during the corona pandemic, the short films form a non-linear (self-)narrative. Their theme is the subject of the artist, his artistic practice and the studio as a place of production, which also serves as an apparatus for perceiving realities. Sometimes matter-of-fact, sometimes slightly melancholy, sometimes infused with subtle humour and (self-)irony, the artist involves the viewer in his reflections on content, forms, effectiveness, reference systems and, above all, the meaningfulness of art as a work that is part of the world. He has carefully blurred the boundaries between the private and the public, the individual, the personal and the collective. At the same time, Kentridge always offers a space for distancing and a change of perspective.

Opening: 26.08.2025, 6 p.m.

Duration: 27.08.–09.11.2025

Opening hours: Tue–Sun, 11 a.m. – 7 p.m.