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1/9/2004

William Kentridge

Museum of Contemporary Art - MCA, Sydney

William Kentridge is one of the most significant and internationally renowned artists of our time. Born in Johannesburg, where he still lives today. Kentridge's work offers a distinctive vision of the complex history of South Africa, the legacy of apartheid and more broadly, the nature of human emotions and memory.

At Sydney's Museum of Contemporary Art, this major international exhibition of over 70 works from the 1970s to the present day, includes early drawings, etchings, animated films, recent sculpture, and new film works, Tide Table, Fragments for Georges Melies, and Journey to the Moon.

A major component of the exhibition will be the presentation of the artist's best-known film series, Drawings for Projection, which he began in 1989. These animated films, originating as single charcoal drawings, are painstakingly created through a unique process of erasure and re-drawing. Reflecting the artist's desire to make sense of the turbulent and violent times which characterised the later period of apartheid, the works reference the significant historical events in South Africa in the 1980s and 1990s.Through the imaginary saga of a Johannesburg industrialist, Soho Eckstein, and his alter ego, the naked, sensual artist, lover and dreamer, Felix Teitlebaum, Kentridge portrays the realities of daily life alongside the broader moral and ethical issues faced by the developing nation of South Africa, and communities the world over. The ninth and newest installment, Tide Table, returns to the central characters of Soho and Felix, who are now living in the post-apartheid world.

"The way in which the public responds to Kentridge's work is evidence of the effectiveness of his ability to engage with the world through art and to find an appropriate voice for the artist in the political arena," MCA Director Elizabeth Ann Macgregor said.

The artist's distinctive style embraces a variety of techniques to raise important ethical and moral questions. In his new works Fragments for Georges Melies (2003) and Journey to the Moon (2003), Kentridge combines performance, film and animation in homage to the beginning of filmmaking and to French filmmaker George Melies' magical experimentations. Day for Night (2003) incorporates the filming of 'drawings' made by ants crawling across paper lined with sugar, which when printed in negative turn into visions of the galaxy.

This international touring exhibition of William Kentridge was organised by the Castello di Rivoli, Museum of Contemporary Art, Rivoli, Turin, Italy, where it opened in January 2004. It was shown at the Kunstsammlug Nordrhein-Westfalen in Dusseldorf, Germany (27 March - 31 May 2004), and following the MCA Sydney exhibition, travels to the Musee d' Art Contemporain, Montreal, Canada (10 February - 23 April 2005) and the Johannesburg Art Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa (1 July - 31 October 2005).

William Kentridge is organised by the Castello di Rivoli, Museum of Contemporary Art, Rivoli, Turin. The exhibition is curated by Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev. The exhibition in Rivoli was made possible through the generous support of the Region of Piedmont, CRT Foundation, Turin Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture, and the City of Turin.

Museum of Contemporary Art
Circular Quay West Sydney Australia

FREE admission

MCA opening hours: every day 10am - 5pm

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