More Sweetly Play the Dance (2015) by the South African artist William Kentridge (born Johannesburg, 1955) is a work that combines video, animation, drawing, music and performance to create an immersive and multidimensional experience. It is a notable example of how Kentridge explores themes of history, politics, memory and identity, using a visual language that mixes the ephemeral with the permanent and the tragic with the optimistic. In this personal allusion to Plato’s cave the artist evokes migratory movements caused by outbreaks of war, quests for utopias or climatological threats. The use of multiple projections, the choreography of the figures and the incessant music create a sense of continuous flow, as if human history never stands still.

William Kentridge uses the procession as a metaphor for the human condition and the historical marches of the oppressed, particularly in the context of South African history and apartheid. This work shows a long procession of moving figures that seem to move forward in a funeral dance or ritual parade. Musicians, dancers, religious figures and emblematic characters slowly advance while melancholy and vibrant music resonates in the background. The artist employs his characteristic monochromatic style, using mainly black and white with loose and gestural strokes that suggests charcoal drawings in order to emphasise the rawness of the themes encompassed.

More Sweetly Play the Dance suggests a medieval Danse Macabre to viewers but one that Kentridge transforms into a dance of resistance and survival, proving that beauty and humanity can be found in the midst of any circumstances. For this striking 15-minute installation which runs continuously, Kentridge enlisted the collaboration of African dancer Dada Masilo and the Immanuel Essemblies Brass Band. With this work Kentridge invites the viewer to participate in a reflection on the cyclical nature of history and the human capacity to find hope and beauty even in the darkest moments. More Sweetly Play the Dance is a testament to art’s power to confront the harshest realities while celebrating resistance and humanity.

William Kentridge is internationally recognised for his drawings, films, and theatre and opera productions. His method combines drawing, writing, film, performance, music and theatre to create works of art based on politics, science, literature and history while maintaining a space for contradiction and uncertainty. Kentridge’s work has been shown in museums and galleries around the world, including the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Musée du Louvre in Paris, and the Museo Reina Sofía in Madrid, among many others. He has participated several times in the Kassel Documenta (2012, 2002,1997) and the Venice Biennale (2015, 2013, 2005, 1999 and 1993). His work can be found in museums and private collections around the world.

This installation, which is part of the collection of Fundació Sorigué, will be shown at the Museo Picasso Málaga as an Invited Work from 21 November to 27 April next year. Fundació Sorigué, which is part of the Sorigué group, possesses one of the most significant collections of contemporary art in Spain, as well as the most important holding of works by William Kentridge in Europe.

William Kentridge, More Sweetly Play the Dance, 2015, eight-channel HD film installation. Duration 15 minutes. Colección Fundació Sorigué. © William Kentridge Foto: Museo Picasso Málaga