In 2022 William Kentridge made the film Oh To Believe in Another World to accompany Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 10 in E Minor. The film was made to be seen alongside a live performance of the symphony following an invitation by the Luzerner Sinfonieorchester.

The book Oh To Believe in Another World – a publication in three volumes – offers a visual journey into the film and the processes of making that went into its construction.

Volume 1 takes us through the 53 minute film, in a series of stills showing the trajectory of the film – which follows the four movements of the symphony.

Volume 2 shows actors in puppet-like costumes designed by Greta Goiris, performing different roles in the film against a green screen – later to be edited into the constructed spaces in which the film unfolds.

Volume 3 examines the construction of the models used for the film – an imagined abandoned Soviet museum – designed by Sabine Theunissen; and the making of the puppets, created by Greta Goiris, that appear in the vitrines of the museum and which also were the basis for the costumes of the actors. This volume also includes an essay by William Kentridge on the origins and processes of making the film, a text by Marina Frolova-Walker on Shostakovich’s Symphony no. 10, and a conversation between Artistic Director Numa Bischof Ullmann and Chief Conductor Michael Sanderling.

The book launch is conducted in the context of FWF PEEK project AR 721 “Atlas (of Creative Mechanisms): [Curating-Conducting]” led by Basak Senova.