Abstract:
Although the contemporary South-African artist William Kentridge has practised his creativity in many domains (as observer, activist, artist, storyteller and thinking director) in a wide range of media (including land art, sculpture, etchings, video installations, shadow plays, stage, theatre and opera productions), it is chiefly his large charcoal drawings in process (drawings for animation) and his unique, short, handmade, animated films and their projection that have given him international fame and added to his dynamic stature. The question is how technological media underwent a process of retrospective alienation in William Kentridge’s animation processes. The development of Kentridge’s large wall drawings to drawings for animation and projection is discussed, while mark making, montage and editing within the greater filmic whole are emphasised. Although Kentridge uses Méliès’ idea of a trip to the moon and a moon landing, he transfers the voyage to the moon and the lunar landscape to the Highveld landscape that is known to him.
Description:
Méliès se maan is ’n laat 19de eeuse koloniale maan … “my maanlandskap is net buite Johannesburg”
Alhoewel William Kentridge as kontemporêre Suid-Afrikaanse kunstenaar uiting aan sy kreatiwiteit op verskillende maniere gegee het (as waarnemer, aktivis, kunstenaar, storieverteller en denkende regisseur) in ’n wye verskeidenheid media (waaronder landkuns, beeldhou, etse, video installasies, skaduspel, en verskeie verhoog-, teater-en operaproduksie (performance)), is dit veral sy groot, performatiewe houtskooltekeninge (drawings for animation) en sy unieke kort, handgemaakte animasiefilms en die projeksie daarvan, wat hom internasionale erkenning besorg het. Dit het die vraag laat ontstaan hoe tegnologiese media ’n proses van retrospektiewe vervreemding in William Kentridge se animasieprosesse ondergaan het. Die ontwikkeling van Kentridge se groot muurtekeninge tot tekeninge vir animasie en projeksie word ondersoek, wyl merkmaking, montage en die redigering daarvan binne die groter filmiese geheel beklemtoon word. Alhoewel Kentridge Méliès se idee van ’n reis na die maan en ’n maanlanding gebruik, verplaas hy die ruimtereis en die maanlandskap na ’n landskap buite Johannesburg wat aan hom bekend is.
Sleutelwoorde: William Kentridge, performance, teater, multimedia, animasie, Drawings for animation, Drawings for projection, Georges Méliès
