Artworks Selection: Headlines

In 2025 William Kentridge began exploring the makings of what would later be referred to as the Headlines series in collaboration with the David Krut Workshop, Lightfarm Studios as well as Neue Zürcher Zeitung. The collaboration was coordinated through an international art organisation based in Hamburg that aims to inspire the public called P-ART.

The series consists of 6 text-based woodcuts (Let Us Try For Once Not To Be Right, In Verteidigung der Weniger Guten Idee, Oh Madness and Shamelessness, I take a brick to show how beautiful my house once was, KABOOM KABOOM KABOOM!, Fümmsböwö tää zää) made from white ash and oak wood; all hand carved apart from one block (In Verteidigung der Weniger Guten Idee In) which was laser engraved around the lettering of the text, but hand carved everywhere else as a visual alternative for Kentridge to choose from.

The woodcuts were printed in a red ink mix (Charbonnel Madder Lake, Hanco Fire red, Hanco process Black) which was modified with Handschy, Setswell compound and Renaissance graphite arts, Inc. Litho Varnish No.3.

The base images printed by Lightfarm Studios, serve as backgrounds onto which a woodcut impression was applied. The image consists of Neue Zürcher Zeitung (NZZ) articles published in 1916, sourced from the Swiss National Library. These articles reference the Cabaret Voltaire, recognized as the birthplace of the Dada movement in Zurich, Switzerland. Kentridge reinforces the connection between the Headlines series and the Dada movement through his choice of titles.