KENTRIDGE'S INTERSECTION OF THEATER AND VISUAL ART
By Carol Benet
artssf.com, the independent observer of San Francisco Bay Area theater
Weeks starting March 16, 2009
Vol. 11, No. 79
Certainly one
of the most famous contemporary artists is William
Kentridge, whose exhibit Five Themes
just opened at SFMOMA. Coming from South Africa,
his work, so multi-media and fascinating, reflects the years of
apartheid
there. But it goes beyond that in
commenting on man’s existential meaning and the world in which he lives.
He provocatively
blurs the lines between theater and visual art.
Kentridge’s
work is so inclusive and so politically and
psychoanalytically layered that any description would be sure to miss
the many
levels of interpretation. The exhibit is
cleverly laid out in Five Themes that
have been part of his oeuvre from the beginning of his career. The
first features two invented characters Soho
and Felix, who resemble the artist in many ways, and their lives during
apartheid. The second is about King Ubu,
the character
from an absurdist play by Alfred Jarry in the late 19th
century.
Third is about the artist in the studio, the fourth and one of the most
creative is a production of Mozart’s Magic
Flute, in a model theater with animated video containing the
principal
singers as birds (Papageno and Papagena), Sorastro as a hippo and so on. And the fifth is a preview of the Met.
Opera’s The Nose, with video images
shot on the four walls of the gallery that describe Russia
during the 1950’s when Shostakovich
composed the opera. A good novel to really get into the subject is
William T.
Vollman’s Europe Central, a Pulitzer
prize winner.
Kentridge
studied theater in Paris
for a year and his knowledge that and of
opera is vast. His intense interest in
the Enlightenment of the 18th century resulted in his
production of The Magic Flute on the small mock-up of
a stage, one that can be seen on all sides by walking around it. He
delves into
the mid- 20th century history of Russia
with The Nose. Other
videos and
their accompanying graphics and sculptures adorn the galleries that are
arranged somewhat like a carnival show where you wander from one to
another,
sometimes in dark corridors that lead around the fourth floor of the
museum. And like the freak shows at these
early
carnivals, the images of South African apartheid atrocities and
torturing accompany
the first two themed galleries.
Seeing is
believing with this fascinating exhibition. Panel
discussions, viewings of the videos and
wandering in the galleries will take some time.
I plan to return. The catalog is unique in that it contains a
DVD with selections from his videos on exhibit. The exhibition
will travel internationally to Paris, Vienna, Jerusalem,
Amsterdam as well as New York,
Fort Worth
and
West Palm Peach.
Kentridge is a
sculptor and graphic artist who works in
video as well as theater and opera. He
will be directing and designing an opera, Shostakovitch’s The
Nose, based on a story by Gogol, at the Metropolitan Opera on New York that
opens in a
year’s time.
His production
of The
Return of Ulysses by Monteverdi is playing in San Francisco for 5 performances
starting
March 24 at the Theatre Artaud. This
features the Handspring Puppet Company of South Africa in the major
roles.
William Kentridge:
Five Themes stays and plays at the Museum of Modern Art, S.F.,
through May 31, 2009. For tickets:
(800) 745 3000 or go online (sfmoma.org/kentridgeopera, or
www.sfmoma.org).
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© Carol Benet 2009
Carol Benet is a regular theater reviewer for artssf.com.
These critiques appearing weekly (or sometimes semi-weekly, but never
weakly)focus
on theater, dance and new musical creativity in performance, with
forays
into recordings by local artists, and a few departures into books (by
authors
of the region)as well.
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