A meeting of two incredible minds, one an internationally renowned cross-media artist and the other an internationally renowned cross-disciplinary philosopher. William Kentridge and Judith Butler are known throughout the world for revising and propelling their respective areas of inquiry. Meeting at Berkeley for a free-ranging conversation, these two leading lights consider the relationship between art and politics, the paradoxes of identity, the ethics of activism, the power of “the less good idea,” and much more.

William Kentridge (South African, b. 1955) is a filmmaker, draftsman, and sculptor, and the son of Sydney Kentridge, one of South Africa’s foremost anti-apartheid lawyers. After studying politics and African history at the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg from 1973 until 1976, Kentridge studied fine art at the Johannesburg Art Foundation (1976–78) and the École Jacques Lecoq in Paris. His works have been exhibited in solo exhibitions at many museums, including the Museum of Modern Art, New York; Albertina Museum, Vienna; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; and Philadelphia Museum of Art. 

Judith Butler is Distinguished Professor in the Graduate School and formerly the Maxine Elliot Chair in the Department of Comparative Literature and the Program of Critical Theory at UC Berkeley. They received their PhD in philosophy from Yale University in 1984. They served as a founding director, with Martin Jay, of the Critical Theory Program at UC Berkeley. Butler received a Mellon Foundation grant to found and develop the International Consortium of Critical Theory Programs (2016–20), where they serve now as cochair of the board and editorial member of Critical Times.