Event
William Kentridge “The Refusal of Time”
February 8, 2014 (sat) – March 16, 2014 (sun)
Admission: Adults: 500 (400) JPY // University students: 300 (200) JPY
* Discounted rates in ( ) apply for advance tickets and groups of 20 or more.
* High school students and visitors under 18 or over 70 will be admitted free of charge (identification required).
* Persons with disabilities and 1 attendant/caregiver will be admitted free of charge (proof of disability required).
Advance tickets:Available for a limited time from December 10 (Tue.), 2013 to February 7 (Fri.), 2014 at university co-ops in Kyoto, Junkudo Kyoto (bookstore on Shijō and Tominokōji), the Kyoto Tourist Information Center (Kyoto Station 2F), MEDIA SHOP GALLERY & BOOKS (one street south of Kawaramachi and Sanjō), and Gakubuchi no Yamamoto Higashi-ten (frame shop on Teramachi and Aneyakōji).
Artist: William Kentridge
Venue
the former Rissei elementary school
http://www.rissei.org/
Access: 310-2 Bizenjima-cho, Nakagyo-ku, Kyoto, 604-8023, Japan
Hours: 10:00 ~ 19:00
Closed: Wednesday
Description
As a prelude to Parasophia: Kyoto International Festival of Contemporary Culture 2015, almost exactly a year in advance, we will present the Asian premiere of South African artist William Kentridge’s large-scale video installation, The Refusal of Time (2012). The Refusal of Time is a 5-channel video installation with a complex soundscape, megaphones, and a large breathing machine that Kentridge calls the ‘elephant.’ The work was made for Documenta 13 (Kassel, 2012), where its deep meditation on time and the rich visual experience it offers brought critical and popular acclaim from the hundreds of thousands of visitors from around the world. It is appropriate that this important work is shown for the first time in any Asian country here in Kyoto, a city that has strong ties with the artist, with a history including his lecture at Doshisha University when he first came to Japan in 2008 by the invitation of the Agency for Cultural Affairs, his large-scale traveling exhibition (also his first solo exhibition in Japan) that opened at the National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto in 2009, and, of course, the 2010 Kyoto Prize in Arts and Philosophy, of which he is the youngest laureate to date.
In the late 1980s, Kentridge began creating his signature ‘drawings in motion,’ which are made by photographing charcoal-and-pastel drawings with a 35 mm motion picture camera, adding new marks and erasures frame by frame to make the drawings ‘move.’ These animated works sent shock waves throughout the art world, and he continues to be a great influence on young artists everywhere.
The Refusal of Time arose in part out of a series of conversations with the American historian of science Peter Galison of Harvard University on matters including the history of the control of world time, relativity, black holes, and string theory, as well as workshops featuring the South African dancer Dada Masilo, who is especially known for her innovative and unconventional high-speed interpretations of classical ballet. The work is characterized by a kind of ambiguity, with what appears to be time’s refusal of humanity’s endless efforts to seek out its meaning, or its refusal to be defined, and, on the other hand, humanity’s refusal or attempts to escape from the rules and restrictions set by time as defined by humanity. It presents an important milestone indicating Kentridge’s current intellectual position in his ceaseless examination of the universal and primordial issues of the modern age. Of the six editions that were made of this work, most were acquired by major public collections around the world soon after its first showing at Documenta 13. This exhibition was made possible by the cooperation of the owner of edition 5/6, the Ishikawa Collection (Okayama) in Japan.
Presented by:Kyoto International Festival of Contemporary Culture Organizing Committee, Kyoto Association of Corporate Executives (Kyoto Keizai Doyukai), Kyoto Prefecture, Kyoto City
Under the auspices of:Inamori Foundation, The Japan FoundationFrom the collection of:Ishikawa Collection (Okayama)
With the cooperation of:Kyoto City University of Arts, Kyoto Institute of Technology, Kyoto Seika University, Kyoto University of Art and Design
Funded in part by a grant from:Nomura Foundation
Approved by:Association for Corporate Support of the Arts, Japan
Event
Lecture by William Kentridge
The artist will come to Kyoto and speak about The Refusal of Time.
Lecturer: William Kentridge
Date: February 22 (Sat.), 2014 1:00–3:00 PM
Venue: Ponto-chō Kaburenjō Theater
130 Hashishita-chō, Nakagyō-ku, Kyōto 604-8003
Language: English (with consecutive Japanese translation)
Maximum capacity: 350 seats
Admission: Free (no reservation required)
