The Covid-19 lockdowns may seem like a lifetime ago and yet — perhaps aided by the return of Donald Trump to the White House, which spurs a kind of traumatic recall — those strange days also feel recent. Vivid memories coalesce and blur. What did we all do, those of us who were not heroically maintaining essential services or fighting to stay financially afloat? Some baked bread and some brewed pineapple beer. For many artists, it was an opportunity to spend longer hours in the studio: experimenting, dreaming, inventing.

I have been making my way, with delight and wonder, through the nine episodes of William Kentridge’s Self-Portrait as a Coffee-Pot. Filmed in 2020, the series made its debut at last year’s Venice Biennale and can now be viewed via the streaming service Mubi. “Trapped” in his studio, the artist shares insights into his creative process through a performative dialogue between twin selves — two Kentridges who are happily at odds with one another...

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