rying to keep up with William
Kentridge can become
fatiguing, especially for those
of us born later than his early
success. With his vast body
ofwork,andendless list of exhibitions in
museumsandgalleries around the world,
it’salotoftime to catch up on. This is the
reason why there’s so much excitement
about the artist’s upcoming retrospectives
in Cape Town.
From 24 August to 23 March 2020, an
unprecedented selection of Kentridge’s
work from the past 40 years will be on
show at the prestigious Zeitz MOCAA and
Norval Foundation, in what Zeitz MOCAA
describes as ‘the largest exhibition to
be held in Africa in over a decade’.
At the gallery in the Silo District, visitors
will get to experience the artist’s drawings,
stop-frame animations, videos, prints,
sculptures, tapestries and installations
in the exhibition Why Should I Hesitate:
Putting Drawings to Work. Further afield
in Tokai, Norval Foundation will host
Why Should I Hesitate: Sculpture – the
first ever exhibition that will consists
solely of Kentridge’s sculptures.
Bothexhibitionswillfeatureawide
selection of Kentridge’s work, including
early creations and newer pieces on view
for the first time in South Africa.
It’s a chance for local art lovers to look
back on the artist’s rich past, engage with
works only ever exhibited internationally,
and speculate about what he could do next.
And for Kentridge, the exhibitions offer
a rare opportunity to create access to his
work for South African audiences, which
he hopes will make it more understandable
and less intimidating.
‘The South African art world has
changed so much in the 40 years or so
that I’ve been around, working in the
studio,’ he says. ‘During that period,
we saw the end of apartheid, before which
South African artists were very isolated
from the rest of the world. Now, there
is a large number of South African
artists who are very much part of the
international art scene – at exhibitions and
biennales, with galleries representing them
all over the world. So even though I’ve been
doing it for a long time, I’m by no means
unique or alone now, and the company
of other artists is very comforting.’Kentridge was recently voted ArtReview
magazine’s Africa’s Most Powerful Artist,
but he doesn’t agree with the nomination.
‘To be the most powerful artist in
Africa... really, it’s not a term I was familiar
with, and I don’t think it’s true either,’
he says. ‘I think, thank goodness, there
isn’t a single figure that has to represent
a country, far less a whole continent. But
there are moments of solidarity between
artists in Africa relating to what it is to
be at the margins, to be in a post-colonial
situation. To have this as a central point of
consideration, not just in one’s work, but in
one’s life, and the relationship of Europe
to the people and place where one lives.’
Most importantly for Kentridge is that
when audiences leave his exhibitions, ‘they
come away with the sense that it’s possible
to make things, and that they think about
the agency of making,’ he says. ‘A lot of
the objects here are really stupid. There’s
a big space for non-reflective, physical
making, rather than theoretical analysis
before the work is done. I hope people
come away thinking, “ I could do that” or
even, “My six year old could do that.” And I
think that’s fine.’ O zeitzmocaa.museum,
norvalfoundation.org‘I’M BY NO
MEANS
UNIQUE OR
ALONE NOW,
AND THE
COMPANY
OF OTHER
ARTISTS
IS VERY
COMFORTING.’
- WILLIAM
KENTRIDGE