In his first solo exhibition in Cape Town since his celebrated retrospective at Iziko South African National Gallery in 2002, William Kentridge shows a new body of projections, sculptures, drawings and prints at Goodman Gallery Cape. Commissioned to produce a new video for the fire screen of Teatro La Fenice in Venice, Kentridge has developed an extraordinary method of drawing in three dimensions where the image, once set in motion, coalesces into sculptural form.
Dissolve uses the instability of water to hold and break images. Return uses three dimensional sculptural objects which revolve into and out of coherence.
Artworks
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The pieces were originally conceived for the La Fenice opera house in Venice, and Philip Miller has constructed the music using the sound of an orchestra tuning, and a singer, Nokrismesi Skota, singing an aria. The aria was recorded using a cellphone – using a contemporary, ubiquitous device to produce a sound that is reminiscent of a very early recording. The singer can be seen making the actual recording, in the film Dissolve. The sculptures and drawings in the main body of the gallery were executed to make the film Return.
They are anti-sculptures, sculptures that only make sense as flat images. The artist’s book Breathe was printed by Mark Attwood, who de-constructed the original book drawn by William Kentridge, then remade it. Gerhard Marx collaborated in making the sculptures and Catherine Meyburgh edited the videos.
The artist wishes to acknowledge the participation of others in making the work for this exhibition. The parallel exhibition to this is housed at the Iziko South African National Gallery, and presents work relating to the Gogol short story The Nose. In the gallery here are sculptures and prints that relate to the work at ISANG, and there are inevitably pieces that bridge the gap between the two projects.
Artist Bio
William Kentridge (b. 1955, Johannesburg, South Africa) is internationally acclaimed for his drawings, films, theatre and opera productions.
In 2024, in Venice, Kentridge premiered a new nine-episode video series, 'Self-Portriait as a Coffee Pot,' - a site-specific installation curated by long-time collaborator and curator Carolyn Christov Bakargiev at the Arsenale Institute for Politics of Representation. Following this, in October, MUBI presented: William Kentridge’s, ‘Self-Portrait as a Coffee-Pot’ Premiere in New York.
In conjunction with the world premiere of his newly commissioned opera, 'The Great Yes, The Great No,' which debuted at LUMA Arles in July 2024, the solo exhibition, 'Je n’attends plus' (I’m Not Waiting Any Longer) presents a collection of major works, some of which had not been seen in Europe before.
Kentridge’s largest UK survey to date was held at the Royal Academy of Arts in London in 2022. An iteration of Kentridge's Royal Academy survey opened at the Taipei Museum of Fine Arts in May 2024. In the same year Kentridge opened another major survey exhibition, 'In Praise of Shadows,' at The Broad, Los Angeles. In 2023, this exhibition traveled to the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.
Kentridge’s work has been seen in museums across the globe since the 1990s, including the Luma Foundation, France (2024); Arsenale Institute for Politics of Representation, Venice (2024); Taipei Fine Arts Museum (2024); Museum of Modern Art, New York (1999, 2005, 2010); Albertina Museum, Vienna (2010); Musée du Louvre, Paris (2010); National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea; Reina Sofia Museum, Madrid (2015); Kunstmuseum Basel (2019); Norval Foundation, Cape Town (2019). The artist has also participated in biennale’s including Documenta in Kassel (2012, 2002, 1997) and the Venice Biennale (2015, 2013, 2005, 1999, 1993).
Collections include: MoMA, New York; Tate Modern, London; Centre Pompidou, Paris; Haus der Kunst, Munich; Sharjah Art Foundation, Sharjah; National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto; Guggenheim, Abu Dhabi and Zeitz MoCAA, Cape Town.
Kentridge lives and works in Johannesburg, South Africa.
