KENTRIDGE William

Born in 1955 in Johanesburg, South Africa. Lives in Johanesburg.

Tango for Page Turning, 2013

Video,  2‘ 48’’

Music: Philip Miller

Voice: Joanna Dudley

Editing: Žana Marović

Courtesy William Kentridge Studio

William Kentridge is one of South Africa’s pre-eminent artists, internationally acclaimed for his drawings, films, theatre and opera productions. His work draws on varied sources, including philosophy, literature, early cinema, theatre and opera to create a complex universe where good and evil are complementary and inseparable forces.

Tango for Page Turning

Tango for Page Turning is a film fragment made for the theatre piece Refuse the Hour (2012-13). This and its companion piece, the 5-channel video installation The Refusal of Time, arose in part out of a series of conversations between South African artist William Kentridge and American historian of science Peter Galison on matters including the history of the control of world time, relativity, black holes, and string theory. Music for both projects was created by Philip Miller.

In this fragment, Joanna Dudley sings a shattered rendering of the song Spectre de la Rose by Hector Berlioz, from his song cycle Les Nuits d’Ete, based on the poetry of Théophile Gautier. The text is a jumbled-up, random juxtaposition of words originating in the English translation of Spectre de la Rose. Using Dada-ist techniques of cutting up the poem into word fragments and mixing them up in a hat, Miller re-assembled the words into a new version of the poem.

The dancing figure on the pages is drawn from Dada Masilo, who both choreographed and danced in Refuse the Hour.

—ANNE MCILLERON