William Kentridge dances, juggles and constructs
Behind the scenes at William Kentridge’s largest retrospective, which is opening to the public this weekend
William Kentridge is taking a nap. He is asleep on a large brown velvet ottoman in a room under construction. In a room within a room that has sprung from his imagination. Around him unfolds a lifetime of work, and he like a palimpsest rests in the snug heart of this labyrinthine progression. A becalmed pilgrim. His own progress marked out by years of work which is being installed, recreated, repurposed and reformed for the largest retrospective he has been offered yet, opening to the public this weekend in Cape Town at not one but two venues — the Zeitz MOCAA and the Norval Foundation.
“Don’t wake him,” warns Anne Roberts, the queen of production, who has been installed like the work at the Zeitz for days upon days. Because production, I have now learnt, is in fact a great part of what Kentridge’s work is about. There are troops of collaborators, builders, French people with sexy accents and soothing studio managers also called Anne, guys with tool kits, lighting experts, se...
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