Goodman Gallery is pleased to present “the moon is not the sun at night”, a group presentation bringing together works by artists; Carlos Garaicoa, Kendell Geers, William Kentridge, Kiluanji Kia Henda, Grada Kilomba, Mateo Lopez, Naama Tsabar and Sue Williamson.
The presentation takes its title from a verse in the poem, ‘The Rose’, written by American poet Ben Lerner. “the moon is not the sun at night” is an evocation to rethink beliefs and accepted knowledge(s). It is an invitation to question our initial encounters with what we perceive. By blatantly stating what is “known” (that the moon is not the sun), an element of doubt is cast on our awareness, allowing a process through which known facts can be questioned, falsified or even made true again.
At first glance, Tsabar’s work appears as paintings or drawings but through closer observation, they reveal themselves to be intricate sound pieces that contradict their natural character.
In Garaicoa’s work, history and memory are intermingled to suggest ways in which truth and fiction can become conflated. Re-memory is threaded onto the image where tree structures turn into spectral structures — they are there but also not there. Kia Henda tests the limits of freedom (and by extension confinement) by pointing to the absurdity of restrictions on the movement of people — which fail against other species.
Lopez’ ‘Sillas Núcleo (two chairs)’ straddles both activation and functionality, offering audiences a gesture of hospitality - the ability to sit and rest - alongside a visual experience.
Both Kilomba and Geers, reach into the chambers of history to excavate colonial legacies of fetishisation, plunder and death. Kentridge and Williamson offer us models of how to reflect on history’s untranslatability — suggesting multiple ways in which multiple mediums (postcards and the opera) can be reinterpreted and reread.
Artworks
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