Valdemars Slot reopens to the public for Season Two with new exhibitions and a weekend of live performances and events, unfolding across the palace and grounds, Saturday 23, 1–5pm and Sunday 24 – Monday 25, 11am – 5pm.
The live programme welcomes visitors into the creative world of The Centre for the Less Good Idea, co-founded by William Kentridge and Bronwyn Lace in 2016. Relocating to the palace for two periods of research and workshops with local collaborators, their residency culminates in two weekends of performance in May and August. Delving into Valdemars Slot’s vast archives, the artists explore a dialogue between African traditions and European music created and played at the estate hundreds of years ago.
Based in Johannesburg and collaborating internationally, the Centre embraces the “less good idea” by supporting experimental, cross-disciplinary projects that sit outside the conventions of theatre or gallery spaces. Drawing on both the conceptual and visual language of Kentridge’s practice, the artists transform Valdemars Slot into a fluid framework for cross- disciplinary collaboration and cultural exchange.
Artists in Residence from The Centre for the Less Good Idea:
Bronwyn Lace (visual artist)
Anathi Conjwa (singer-songwriter)
Micca Manganye (percussionist)
Neo Muyanga (Impresario, composer)
Teresa Phuti (dancer-choreographer)
Local Collaborators:
Andreas Borregaard (accordionist)
Halina Wigocka Wamberg (cellist)
Svendborg BalletTeater
About The Centre for the Less Good Idea (est. 2016, Johannesburg)
The Centre creates and supports experimental, collaborative and cross-disciplinary artistic projects through short, intensive periods of research and performance. Since 2024 its programme has been led by Neo Muyanga, working alongside SO | The Academy for the Less Good Idea, directed by Athena Mazarakis, and The Centre Outside The Centre, led by Bronwyn Lace. Recent projects include those at The Royal Academy and The Barbican in London, Komische Opera, Berlin, and RedCat Theatre, Los Angeles amongst others.