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.
Kentridge’s work has been seen in museums and galleries around the world since the 1990s, including Documenta in Kassel, Germany (1997, 2003, 2012), the Museum of Modern Art in New York (1998, 2010), the Albertina Museum in Vienna (2010), Jeu de Paume in Paris (2010), and the Musée du Louvre in Paris (2010), where he presented Carnets d’Egypte, a project conceived especially for the Egyptian Room. Kentridge’s production of Mozart’s The Magic Flute was presented at Theatre de la Monnaie in Brussels, Festival d’Aix, and in 2011 at La Scala in Milan, and his production of Shostakovich’s The Nose was seen at The New York Metropolitan Opera in 2010 and again in 2013, traveling to Festival d’Aix and to Lyon in 2011. The 5-channel video and sound installation The Refusal of Time was made for Documenta (13) in Kassel, Germany, in 2012; since then it has been seen at MAXXI in Rome, the Metropolitan Museum, New York, and other cities including Boston, Perth, Kyoto, Helsinki and Wellington. A substantial survey exhibition of Kentridge’s work opened in Rio de Janeiro in 2012, going on in following years to Porto Alegre, Sao Paolo, Bogota, Medellin, and Mexico City. In 2014 Kentridge’s production of Schubert’s Winterreise opened at the Vienna festival, Festival d’Aix, and Holland Festival. It has since been performed at the Lincoln Center in New York, in St Petersburg, Moscow and other cities in Europe. Paper Music, a concert of projections with live music by Philip Miller, premiered in Florence and was presented at Carnegie Hall in New York in October 2014. Kentridge’s production of Alban Berg’s opera LULU opened this summer in Amsterdam, and in November will be seen at the Metropolitan Opera in New York. It travels to the English National Opera in London in November 2016.
More Sweetly Play the Dance is an 8-channel video projection. It was shown first in an installation at the EYE Film Institute in Amsterdam in April 2015, and will also be part of a projection biennale in Germany and an exhibition at Marian Goodman Gallery in London, both in September. Notes Toward a Model Opera, a three-screen projection looking at the Chinese Cultural Revolution, is the key work in a new survey exhibition which opened in Beijing in June this year (going on to the MMCA in Seoul and other cities in the Far East), and will also be part of a solo exhibition at Marian Goodman Gallery in London in the Fall. For the 2015 Istanbul biennale, Kentridge has made a site-specific installation of sound and video titled O Sentimental Machine. Work continues on Triumphs & Laments, an approximately 500 m frieze of figures to be power-washed from the accumulated pollution on the walls of the Tiber River in Rome – triumphs and laments in the history of Rome, and scheduled to open in late April 2016.
In 2010, Kentridge received the prestigious Kyoto Prize in recognition of his contributions in the field of arts and philosophy. In 2011, he was elected as an Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and received the degree of Doctor of Literature honoris causa from the University of London. In 2012, Kentridge presented the Charles Eliot Norton Lectures at Harvard University and was elected member of the American Philosophical Society and of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Also in that year, he was awarded the Dan David Prize by Tel Aviv University, and was named as Commandeur des Arts et Lettres by the French Ministry of Culture and Communication. In 2013, William Kentridge was awarded an Honorary Doctorate in Fine Arts by Yale University. In 2014 he received an Honorary Doctorate in Literature from the University of Cape Town, and in 2015 was appointed as an Honorary Academician of the Royal Academy in London.
SELECTED CHRONOLOGY
Born in Johannesburg, 1955
Lives and works in Johannesburg
Education
University Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 1973–76
Johannesburg Art Foundation, Johannesburg, 1976–78
École Jacques LeCoq, Paris, 1981–82
1975
Theatre and Performance
Acts in Pippa Stein’s The Goat that Sneezed, Junction Avenue Theatre Company. Presented at Nunnery Theater, Johannesburg
Acts in Ubu Rex (based on Alfred Jarry’s Ubu Roi), Junction Avenue Theatre Company, A Box and University Players. Presented at Nunnery Theatre, Johannesburg
1976
Theatre and Performance
Designs, co-devises, and acts in Fantastical History of a Useless Man, Junction Avenue Theatre Company. Presented at Nunnery Theatre, Johannesburg; The Space, Cape Town
1977
Theatre and Performance
Co-designs the set, poster, and program for Pippa Stein and Malcolm Purkey’s Wooze Bear (director Malcolm Purkey). Presented at Nunnery Theatre, Johannesburg
1978
Film
Title/Tale (with Stephen Sack and Jemima Hunt), 8 mm animation, 2:00 min.
Theatre and Performance
Helps devise and performs in Randlords and Rotgut (based on an essay by Charles van Onselen, directed by Malcolm Purkey), Junction Avenue Theatre Company, Nunnery Theatre, Johannesburg
Acts in and designed Tom Stoppard’s Travesties (director Malcolm Purkey). Presented at The Market Theatre, Johannesburg
Designs Play it Again, Sam (director Barney Simon). Presented at The Market Theatre, Johannesburg
1979
Solo Exhibitions
The Market Gallery, Johannesburg, ‘William Kentridge’, 4 November – 1 December
Film
8 mm flipbook animation (untitled), 2:00 min.
Theatre and Performance
Directs Will of a Rebel by Ari Sitas and Haunchen Koornhof, Junction Avenue Theatre Company, Nunnery Theatre, Johannesburg
Helps devise and acts in Security by A. von Kotze, Junction Avenue Theatre Company, venues in Johannesburg and Durban
1980
Theatre and Performance
Scripts and directs Dikhitsheneng, Junction Avenue Theatre Company, performed at different venues in Johannesburg
1981
Solo Exhibitions
The Market Gallery, Johannesburg, ‘Domestic Scenes’, 1 – 21 February
Group Exhibitions
South African Association of Arts, Bellville, Cape Town, ‘National Graphic Show’, April (awarded First Prize for selected Domestic Scenes prints)
Film
Co-directs Howl at the Moon with Hugo Cassirer, video fiction, 40:00 min.
Theatre
Designs sets for Wooze Bear and the Zoo Bears
1982
Film
Receives American Film Festival Red Ribbon Award for Short Fiction for Howl at the Moon, New York, September
1983
Theatre and Performance
Designs set for version of Euripides’ tragedy The Bacchae, Junction Avenue Theatre Company, directed by Malcolm Purkey, The Market Theatre, Johannesburg
Writes children’s play Emily’s Wheelbarrow Show and the Infamous Mr Sterntrap, directed by Malcolm Purkey, Wits Theatre, Johannesburg
1984
Film
Salestalk, 16 mm film fiction using actors, transferred to video, 30:00 min.
Theatre and Performance
Revival of Dikhitsheneng, directed by Malcolm Purkey, The Market Theatre, Johannesburg
Directs Catastrophe by Samuel Beckett, Wits Theatre, Johannesburg
1985
Solo Exhibitions
Cassirer Fine Art, Johannesburg, ‘William Kentridge’, 15 – 27 April (awarded 1986 AA Vita Award for this exhibition)
Group Exhibitions
South African National Gallery, Cape Town, Cape Town Triennial ’85, 18 September – 2 November
The Market Gallery, Johannesburg, ‘Eleven Figurative Artists’, 10 – 30 November
Market Theatre Cultural Precinct, Johannesburg, ‘Tributaries’ (toured Germany)
Film
Vetkoek/Fête Galante, 16 mm animated film with actors and drawing, transferred to video, 2:41 min.
Wins American Film Festival Blue Ribbon Award for Salestalk (1984), New York; the film is shown at the London Film Festival
Directs David Goldblatt, 50-minute documentary (black and white); screened on Channel 4 in the UK
Theatre and Performance
Catastrophe performed at The Market Theatre, Johannesburg
1986
Solo Exhibitions
Cassirer Fine Art, Johannesburg, ‘William Kentridge’, 3 – 15 November
Group Exhibitions
Simon/Neuman Galleries, New York, ‘Claes Eklundh, William Kentridge, Thomas Lawson’, 28 May – 28 July
The Market Gallery, Johannesburg, ‘But This Is the Reality’, 20 July – 2 August and 11 – 16 August
Film
Salestalk screened at Durban Film Festival and Cape Town Film Festival
1987
Solo Exhibitions
Vanessa Devereux Gallery, London, ‘In the Heart of the Beast’, 22 April – 19 May
Grahamstown, ‘Standard Bank Young Artist Award Exhibition’, July (toured to Tatham Art Gallery, Pietermaritzburg; University Art Galleries, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg; University Art Gallery UNISA, Pretoria; Durban Art Gallery, Durban)
Group Exhibitions
University Art Galleries, Johannesburg, ‘Three Hogarth Satires’, with Deborah Bell and Robert Hodgins, from 12 April (toured to Cassirer Fine Art, Johannesburg, as ‘Hogarth in Johannesburg’, 2 August)
Film
Exhibition, 16 mm animated film using drawing and actors, transferred to video, 3:00 min.
Theatre and Performance
Helps devise and co-design Sophiatown, directed by Malcolm Purkey, Junction Avenue Theatre Company, Johannesburg
Awards
Standard Bank Young Artist Award, Grahamstown Festival, Grahamstown
1988
Solo Exhibitions
Cassirer Fine Art, Johannesburg, ‘William Kentridge’, 6 – 19 November
Film
Co-directs with Angus Gibson Freedom Square and Back of the Moon, documentary on Sophiatown for Channel 4, UK, 50:00 min.
1989
Solo Exhibitions
Vanessa Devereux Gallery, London, ‘Responsible Hedonism’, 14 May – 20 June
Group Exhibitions
Dome Gallery, New York, ‘African Encounters’, 20 June – 1 July (toured to Washington DC)
Film
Johannesburg, 2nd Greatest City after Paris (from Drawings for Projection), 16 mm animated film transferred to video, 8:02 min.
1990
Solo Exhibitions
Cassirer Fine Art and Gallery on the Market, Johannesburg, ‘William Kentridge: Drawings and Graphics’, 30 April – 23 May
Group Exhibitions
Museum of Modern Art, Oxford, ‘Art from South Africa’, 17 June – 23 September (toured to Warwick, Aberdeen, London, Bolton, Stoke on Trent and Nottingham)
Film
Directs T&I, video fiction with actors, 12:00 min.
Monument, 16 mm animated film transferred to video, 3:11 min.
1991
Solo Exhibitions
Newtown Galleries, Johannesburg, ‘Five Gouache Collage Heads’
Group Exhibitions
Taking Liberties Gallery, Durban, ‘Little Morals’, with Deborah Bell and Robert Hodgins, May
Film
Mine, 16 mm animated film transferred to video (with the addition of colour and sound), 5:50 min.
Sobriety, Obesity & Growing Old, 16 mm animated film transferred to video, 8:22 min.
Awards
Rembrandt Gold Medal at Cape Town Triennial
Mine wins Weekly Mail Short Film Competition (Fiction)
1992
Solo Exhibitions
Goodman Gallery, Johannesburg, ‘Drawings for Projection’, 21 February –14 March (toured to Vanessa Devereux Gallery, London, 14 May – 20 June)
Film
Easing the Passing (of the Hours), in collaboration with Robert Hodgins and Deborah Bell, computer animation transferred to video, 10:00 min.
Theatre and Performance
Conceives and directs Woyzeck on the Highveld, multimedia theatre production (receives awards for production, set design and direction). Performances in Grahamstown, Munich, Antwerp, Toronto, Brussels, Stuttgart, Granada, Glasgow, Bochum, Braunshweig, Berlin, Goteborg, New York, Chicago, Hong Kong, Adelaide, Wellington, Bogota, Jerusalem, Avignon, and cities in Scandinavia, France, Belgium, Italy
Award
Receives the Quarterly Vita Award
1993
Solo Exhibitions
Ruth Bloom Gallery, Los Angeles, ‘William Kentridge’, May
Group Exhibitions
Goodman Gallery, Johannesburg, ‘Robert Hodgins, William Kentridge, Deborah Bell’, 14 April –7 May
45th Venice Biennale, Venice, ‘Incroci Del Sud: Affinities – Contemporary South African Art’, 31 October –2 December
Film
Edinburgh, film retrospective at Edinburgh International Film Festival
Sobriety, Obesity and Growing Old (1991) screened at Annecy International Festival of Animated Film, Annecy, France; and at Best of Annecy Festival, The Museum of Modern Art, New York, touring to Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris
1994
Solo Exhibitions
Goodman Gallery, Johannesburg, ‘Felix in Exile’, 16 October –5 November
Group Exhibitions
Art First, London, ‘Trackings: History as Memory, Document and Object: New Work by Four South African Artists’, 19 April –19 May
Block Gallery, North Western University, Chicago, ‘Displacements’, 22 September – 4 December
Spacex Gallery, University of Exeter, November
Film
Felix in Exile, 35 mm animated film transferred to video, 8:43 min.
Memo, in collaboration with Robert Hodgins and Deborah Bell, 35 mm animated film using live actor and charcoal drawing, transferred to video, 3:00 min.
1995
Group Exhibitions
Africus: 1st Johannesburg Biennale, Johannesburg, 28 February –30 April
Stefania Miscetti Gallery, Rome, ‘Memory and Geography’, collaboration with Doris Bloom, 15 June – 28 July
Albany Museum Grahamstown, Standard Bank National Festival of the Arts, ‘Panoramas of Passage: Changing Landscapes of South Africa’, July (toured to Washington DC; Dallas; Atlanta; Los Angeles; West Hartford; Wilberforce; Little Rock; Flint; Lexington; Johannesburg)
Bernard Jacobson Gallery, London, ‘Mayibuye iAfrika: 8 South African Artists’, 28 September – 28 October
Delfina Studio Trust, London, ‘On the Road: Works by 10 Southern African Artists’, October 5 – November 12
4th Istanbul Biennial, Istanbul, ‘Eidophusikon’, 10 November – 10 December
Film
Annecy, film retrospective at Annecy International Film Festival, June
Theatre and Performance
Conceives and directs Faustus in Africa!, multimedia theatre production (toured to Weimar, Berlin, Grahamstown, Johannesburg, Zurich, Ludwigsburger, Munich, Prague, Stuttgart, Hanover, Basel, London, Remscheid, Gutersloh, Erlangen, Lisbon, Adelaide, Brussels, Bochum, Hanover, Dijon, Jerusalem, Ellwangen, Hamburg, Copenhagen, St. Polten, Polverigi, Avignon, Seville, Marseille, Rome, Tarbes, Toulouse, Strasbourg, Paris, Sochaux, Bourg en Bresse and Chambery)
1996
Solo Exhibitions
Annandale Galleries, Sydney, ‘Eidophusikon’, 27 March – 20 April
Group Exhibitions
Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin, ‘Colours: Art from South Africa’, 14 May – 18 August
Adelson Galleries, New York, ‘Simunye: We Are One. Ten South African Artists’, 4 June – 1 July
The Castle, Cape Town, ‘Faultlines: Inquiries into Truth and Reconciliation’, 16 June – 31 July
10th Sydney Biennial, Sydney, ‘Jurassic Technologies Revenant’, 27 July – 22 September
Graz, ‘Ici et Ailleurs, film section within Inklusion-Exklusion: Versuch einer neuen Kartografie der Kunst im Zeitalter von Poskolonialismus und Globaler Migration’, 22 September – 26 October
Culturgest, Lisbon, ‘Don’t Mess with Mr. Inbetween: 15Artistas da Africa do Sul’, 25 September – 10 November
Galleria Civica d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea, Turin, ‘Campo 6: The Spiral Village’, 23 September – 3 November (toured to Bonnefanten Museum, Maastricht)
Film
Brussels, film retrospective at Festival des Dessins Animés, February
History of the Main Complaint, 35 mm animated film transferred to video, 5:50 min.
1997
Solo Exhibitions
Goodman Gallery, Johannesburg, ‘William Kentridge: Applied Drawings’, 2– 22 March
Group Exhibitions
Villa Mazzante, Rome, ‘Città/Nattura: Mostra Internazionale di Arte Contemporanea’, 21 April –23 June
Sexta Bienal de la Habana, Havana, ‘El Individuo y su Memoria’, May – June
Museum Fredericianum, Kassel, Documenta X, 21 June –28 September
Observatory Museum, Standard Bank National Festival of the Arts, Grahamstown, ‘UBU ±101’, with Deborah Bell and Robert Hodgins, 3 – 13 July (toured to Johannesburg)
Site Santa Fe, New Mexico, ‘Truce: Echoes of Art in an Age of Endless Conclusions’, 15 July –15 October
2nd Johannesburg Biennale, Johannesburg, ‘Trade Routes: History and Geography. Transversions’, 12 October – 18 January, 1998
Galerie Michel Luneau, Nantes, ‘Les Arts de la Résistance’ (as part of festival Fin de Siècle, Johannesburg), 17 October – 22 November
ARC Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville Paris, ‘Delta’, 4 December – 18 January 1998
Theatre and Performance
Conceives and directs Ubu and the Truth Commission, multimedia theatre production, written by Jane Taylor
Performances in Weimar, Grahamstown, Avignon, Johannesburg, Stellenbosch, Zurich, Geneva, Basel, Romainmotier, Hanover, Rungis, Ludwigsberg, Nantes, Kristiansand, Neuchatel, Dijon, Erlangen, Munich, New York, Washington DC, Los Angeles, Antwerpen, Stockholm, Goteberg, Copenhagen, Randers, Prague, Rome, Toulouse, Rotterdam, Paris, Reggio Emilia, St. Denis (Réunion), Wiesbaden, Lannion; Saint Brieuc, Vannes, Quimper, Amiens, London
Film
Ubu Tells the Truth, 35 mm animated film with documentary photographs and 16 mm archival film transferred to video, 8:00 min.
1998
Solo Exhibitions
The Drawing Center, New York, ‘William Kentridge’, 8 January – 14 February
The Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego, ‘William Kentridge’, 25 January – 12 April
Stephen Friedman Gallery and A22 Gallery, London, ‘William Kentridge’, 6 March – 18 April
Palais des Beaux-Arts, Brussels, ‘William Kentridge’, 15 May – 23 August (toured to Kunstverein, Munich, 28 August – 11 October; Neue Galerie Graz am Landesmuseum Joanneum, Graz, 26 September – 7 November; Museu d’Art Contemporani de Barcelona, MACBA, Barcelona, 28 January –11 April 1999; Serpentine Gallery, London, 20 April – 30 May, 1999; Centre de la Vielle Charité, Marseille, 1999)
Group Exhibitions
Barbara Gladstone Gallery, New York, ‘Vertical Time’, 10 January –21 February
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, ‘Hugo Boss Prize Exhibition’, 24 June –20 September
Carnegie Museum of American Art, Pittsburgh, ‘New Acquisitions’, 25 July – 8 November
Pavilhão da Bienal, Parque do Ibirapuera, São Paulo, XXIV Bienal Internacional de São Paulo, 3 October – 13 December
Art Center, Minneapolis, ‘Unfinished History’, 18 October – 10 January (toured to Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Chicago, 30 January – 4 April 1999)
Spiral Garden, Tokyo, ‘Age of Electronic Image: Shoot at the Chaos’, 17 September – 4 October
Museo de la Ciudad, Mexico City, ‘Cinco Continentes y una Ciudad’, 26 November – 29 February
Riksutstillinger, Oslo at Stenersenmuseet, Oslo, ‘Contemporary Art from South Africa’
Sandton Civic Gallery, Johannesburg, ‘FNB Vita Award Exhibition’, 29 July – 5 September
Film
Amsterdam, film retrospective at XXVI World Wide Video Festival, October–November
Brussels, film retrospective at Animation Festival of Brussels, 17–28 February
Ulisse: ECHO scan slide bottle, 35 mm triptych projection using animated charcoal and pastel drawing, documentary material
WEIGHING . . . and WANTING, 35 mm animated film transferred to video (color, sound), 6:20 min.
Hotel, with Robert Hodgins and Deborah Bell, collaborative animated film using charcoal drawing, in two different versions, 5:43 min. and 4:00 min.
Theatre and Performance
Directs and creates animation for the production of Il Ritorno d’Ulisse, based on the opera by Claudio Monteverdi, with Handspring Puppet Company, musical direction Philippe Pierlot (premiered at Luna Theatre, Brussels, 9 May, toured in 1998–2000 to Sofiensäle, Vienna; Hebbel Theatre, Berlin; Stads Schouwburg, Amsterdam; Werfthalle, Zurich; Monument Theatre, Grahamstown; State Theatre, Pretoria)
1999
Solo Exhibitions
The Museum of Modern Art, New York, ‘Projects 68: William Kentridge’, 13 April – 8 June
Galerie Marian Goodman, Paris, ‘William Kentridge: Sleeping on Glass’, 18 September – 13 November
Goodman Gallery, Johannesburg, ‘William Kentridge: Stereoscope’, 16 October – 20 November
Lia Rumma Gallery, Naples, ‘William Kentridge’, 22 May – 22 July
Robert Brown Gallery, Washington DC, ‘William Kentridge: recent editions’, 1 May – 12 June
Group Exhibitions
Van Reekum Museum, Apeldoorn, ‘<>FAST FORWARD.ZA’, 5 June –3 October
Giardini di Castello, Venice, ‘48th Venice Biennale: d’APERTutto’, 13 June –4 November
Istanbul, ‘VI Istanbul Biennial: The Passion and the Wave’, 17 September – 30 October
Espai d’Art Contemporani de Castelló, Valencia, ‘A Sangre y Fuego’, 17 October – 5 December
Villa Medici, Rome, ‘La Ville, le Jardin, la Mémoire’, 29 May – 30 August
Museum Ludwig, Cologne, ‘Kunstwelten im Dialog’, 5 November – 19 March, 2000
Carnegie Museum of American Art, Pittsburgh, ‘Carnegie International 1999/2000 CI 99:00’, 6 November –26 March 2000 (awarded the Carnegie Medal)
Tachikawa International Art Festival, 3 October – 23 November
Film
Shadow Procession, animated film using three-dimensional objects and paper cut-out figures, 7:15 min.
Stereoscope, 35 mm animated film transferred to video, 8:22 min.
Sleeping on Glass, animated film using three-dimensional objects, a live actor, and charcoal drawing, 8:11 min.
Overvloed, animated film for oval domed ceiling using paper cut-out figures, shadows, text fragments, charcoal and pastel drawing, water and video footage, 6:00 min.
Nederlands Architectuurinstitut, Rotterdam, film retrospective at XXVIII International Film Festival Rotterdam, 27 January – 7 February
Centre d’Art Contemporain de Basse-Normandie, Hérouville Saint-Clair, film retrospective at XIII Rencontres Vidéo Art Plastique, 24 November –5 December
2000
Solo Exhibitions
Annandale Galleries, Sydney, ‘William Kentridge: “Procession”’, 15 November – 9 December
Stephen Friedman Gallery, London, ‘William Kentridge’, 14 April – 20 May
Marian Goodman Gallery, New York, ‘William Kentridge: New Work’, 30 May – 14 July
Goodman Gallery, Johannesburg, ‘Procession: Sculpture by William Kentridge’, 16 – 23 September
P.S.1, New York, ‘Vertical Painting’, 21 May (Stair Procession long-term installation)
Group Exhibitions
Centre d’Art Contemporain, Geneva, ‘William Kentridge and Kara Walker’, 3 March – 28 May
Biennale Exhibition Hall, Kwangju, ‘Third Kwangju Biennale Korea 2000: Man + Space’, 29 March –7 June
New Shanghai Art Museum, Shanghai, 3rd Shanghai Biennale, 6 November – 6 January, 2001
Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, Düsseldorf, ‘The Self is Something Else: Art at the End of 20th Century’, 19 February – 18 June
Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston, ‘Outbound: Passages from the ’90’s’, 4 March – 7 May
Palais de Papes, Avignon, ‘La beauté in fabula’
Havana, ‘Seventh Havana Biennale: Closer to One Another’, November–January 2001
Film
Stuttgart, film retrospective at International Trick Film Festival, 16 – 21 March
Wellington, film retrospective at XXXII New Zealand Film Festival, 7 – 23 July
Annecy, Sobriety, Obesity and Growing Old (1991) selected for ‘Jewels of Century’ at the Annecy International Festival of Animated Film
São Paulo, ‘Videobrasil: Mostra Africana de Arte Contemporânea’, 16 August – 17 September
Arts Alive Festival, Johannesburg, ‘RETREKS: unSUNg CITY’ (toured to Amsterdam, 10 – 11 October, 2001)
2001
Solo Exhibitions
Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC, ‘William Kentridge’, 28 February – 13 May (toured to New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York, June 3– September 16; Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, 20 October – 20 January 2002; Contemporary Art Museum, Houston, 1 March –5 May 2002; Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, 21 July – 6 October 2002; South African National Gallery, Cape Town, 7 December 2002 – 23 March 2003)
Galerie Marian Goodman, Paris, ‘William Kentridge’, 8 September – 27 October
Robert Brown Gallery, Washington DC, ‘William Kentridge: Recent Editions’, 24 February – 21 April
Group Exhibitions
Yokohama Exhibition Hall, Tokyo, ‘Yokohama Triennale: Mega Wave: Towards a New Synthesis’
P.S. 1, New York, ‘Animations’, October 14 – January 13, 2002 (touring to Kunst-Werke, Berlin, 8 February – 6 April 2002)
Museum of Contemporary Art Kiasma, Helsinki, ‘ARS 01: Unfolding Perspectives’, 30 September –21 January 2002
Kokerei Zollverein (Zeitgenossische Kunst und Kritik), Cologne, ‘Arbeit Essen Angst’, 26 May – 3 October
Gallery Mam, Douala, Cameroon, ‘Lines of Connection’, 3 May –17 May
Museum Villa Stuck, Munich, ‘The Short Century’, 15 February – 22 April (toured to Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Martin-Gropius-Bau, Berlin, 18 May – 22 July; Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, 8 September – 30 December; P.S. 1 Contemporary Art Center and The Museum of Modern Art, New York, 20 February –5 May 2002)
Film
Medicine Chest, video rear-projected on medicine chest mirror, animated film, 35 mm, video and DVD transfer, 5:50 min.
San Francisco Cinematheque, San Francisco, ‘The Animated Film of William Kentridge’
Theatre and Performance
Creates animation and directs Zeno at 4 a.m., multimedia shadow oratorio; libretto Jane Taylor, score Kevin Volans (tours to Luna Theatre, KunstenFestivalDesArts, Brussels; Walker Arts Center, Minneapolis; Paris, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago; John Jay College Theatre, Lincoln Center, New York; Théâtre d’Angoulême, Angoulême; Théâtre Garonne, Toulouse; Maison de la Culture d’Amiens, Amiens)
2002
Solo Exhibitions
Lia Rumma Gallery, Milan, ‘William Kentridge’, 17 January – 29 March
Annandale Galleries, Sydney, ‘William Kentridge’, 1 May – 22 June
Marian Goodman Gallery, New York, ‘William Kentridge: Zeno Writing’, 8 November – 4 January, 2003
Group Exhibitions
Museum Fridericianum, Kassel, Documenta XI, 8 June – 15 September
Arnolfini, Bristol, ‘Apparition: The Action of Appearing’, 30 November – 9 February 2003 (toured to Kettle’s Yard, Cambridge, 8 March – 27 April, 2003)
Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth, ‘The Divine Comedy: Francisco Goya, Buster Keaton, William Kentridge’, 7 February – 26 May
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, ‘Moving Pictures’, 28 June – 12 January, 2003
Art Tower Mito, Tokyo, ‘Screen Memories: Imitation of Life’, 13 April – 9 June
Pohjanmaan Museo, Vaasa, Finland, ‘Grafinnova 2002: International Exhibition of Prints and Drawings’, 6 October – 12 December
Bibliotheca Alexandrina, Alexandria, ‘Imagining the Book: international contemporary art encounter’, 12 – 21 September
Museum of Contemporary Art, Taipei, ‘Tech/No/Zone: Contemporary Media Art’, 12 October – 12 January, 2003
Film
Zeno Writing, 35 mm animated film using charcoal and pastel drawing, footage of theatre performance, documentary material from First World War, transferred to video, 6:00 min.
Caracas, film retrospective at Fundavisual Latina
Cleveland, Ohio, film retrospective at 26th Cleveland International Film Festival, 14– 24 March
ZKM, Karlsruhe, Germany, ‘Cinematic Imaginary After Film: Future Cinema’, 16 November – 30 March, 2003
Theatre and Performance
Creates animation and directs production of Confessions of Zeno, multimedia shadow oratorio; libretto Jane Taylor, score Kevin Volans (toured to Luna Theatre, KunstenFestivalDesArts, Brussels; Staatstheater Schauspielhaus, Documenta XI, Kassel; Kommunikations Fabrik, Frankfurt; National Theatre, Zagreb; Monument Theatre, Grahamstown; Freie Volksbuhne, Berlin; Kampnagel Fest, Hamburg; Teatro Valle, Rome; Teatro Liceo, Salamanca; Centre Pompidou, Paris; Théâtre de Caen, Caen; Théâtre d’Angoulême, Angoulême; Spier Amphitheater, Stellenbosch; Victoria Theatre, Singapore)
2003
Solo Exhibitions
Goodman Gallery, Johannesburg, ‘William Kentridge’, 1 – 29 March
Baltic Art Center, Visby, ‘William Kentridge: Journey to the Moon and 7 Fragments for Georges Méliès’, 6 June – 31 August
Mönchehaus Museum für Moderne Kunst, Goslar, ‘William Kentridge’ (exhibition for award of Goslar Kaiserring to William Kentridge), 11 October – 1 February 2004
Group Exhibitions
Sharjah Art Museum and Expo Centre Sharjah, United Arab Emirates, ‘Universes in Universe: Caravan, Sharjah International Biennal 6’, 8 April – 8 May
Rose Art Museum, Brandeis University, Waltham, ‘Coexistence: Contemporary Cultural Production in South Africa’, 22 January – 29 June (toured South African National Gallery, Cape Town, 24 September – March 2004)
Palais des Beaux-Arts, Brussels, ‘Transferts’, 21 June – 14 September
Film
Tide Table, 35 mm animated film transferred to video, 8:50 min
7 Fragments for Georges Méliès, installation of seven film fragments (Invisible Mending 1:30 min; Moveable Assets 2:40 min; Autodidact 5:10 min; Feats of Prestidigitation 1:50 min; Tabula Rasa I 2:50 min; Tabula Rasa II 2:10 min; Balancing Act 1:20 min, 16 mm and 35 mm) films transferred to seven-channel video; Day for Night, 16 mm film transferred to video, 6:32 min; and Journey to the Moon, 35 mm and 16 mm film transferred to video, 7:10 min.
Automatic Writing, 35 mm animated film transferred to video, 6:00 min.
Learning the Flute, 35 mm animated film transferred to video and projected on blackboard, 8:02 min.
Museum of Contemporary Art KIASMA in Helsinki, ‘Cinematic Imaginary After Film: Future Cinema’, 28 June – 28 September
Awards
6th Sharjah Biennial Prize, United Arab Emirates
Kaisserring Prize, Mönchehaus Museum für Moderne Kunst, Goslar
2004
Solo Exhibitions
Castello di Rivoli, Museo d’Arte Contemporanea, Turin, ‘William Kentridge’, 7 January – 29 February (toured K20/21, Düsseldorf, March 25 – May 31; Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney, 1 September – 28; Musée d’Art Contemporain de Montréal, 10 February – 23 April, 2005; Johannesburg Art Gallery, 1 July – 31 October, 2005, Miami Art Central, November 2005)
Art 3 and la CRAC, Valence, ‘William Kentridge’, 31 March – 28 May (toured to Musée Chateau d’Annecy, Annecy, 27 October – 31 January 2005)
Marian Goodman Gallery, New York, ‘William Kentridge’, 4 March – 10 April
Annandale Galleries, Sydney, ‘William Kentridge’, 25 August – 25 September
Grinell College Faulconer Gallery, Grinell, ‘William Kentridge’ (exhibition of prints), 1 October – 19 December (toured to College of Wooster, Wooster, Ohio, January 18 – February 27 2005)
Galerie Marian Goodman, Paris, ‘William Kentridge’, 23 October – 27 November
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, ‘William Kentridge’, 15 November –20 February 2005
Group Exhibitions
Museum Kunst Palast, Dusseldorf, ‘Africa Remix’, July 24 – November 7 (toured to Hayward Gallery, London, 10 February – 17 April 2005; Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, 15 May –20 August 2005; Mori Art Museum, Tokyo, 27 May – 30 August 2006; Moderna Museet, Stockholm, 14 October 2006 – 14 January 2007)
Whitechapel Art Gallery, London, ‘Faces in the Crowd / Volti nella Folla’, December (organised in association with Castello di Rivoli Museo d’Arte Contemporanea, Rivoli, Turin)
Film
Spier, Cape Town, 9 Films (projection of 9 ‘Drawings for Projection’ films accompanied by live music, 6–7 March (toured to Constitution Hill, Johannesburg, 19–26 March; Kliptown, Soweto, September; Newtown, Johannesburg, September)
Venice, ‘61 Mostra Internazionale d’Arte Cinematografica’ (makes the cinematic logo sequence for the exhibition)
Theatre and Performance
Il Ritorno d’Ulisse, Melbourne
Awards
Honorary Degree of Doctor of Literature, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg
2005
Solo Exhibitions
Goodman Gallery, Johannesburg, ‘William Kentridge’, 4 June – 18 July
Model Arts + Niland Gallery, Sligo, September (toured to Limerick City Gallery of Art, Limerick, 5 November – 6 January 2006; Royal Hibernian Academy, Dublin, January – February 2006)
Deutsche Guggenheim Museum, Berlin, ‘William Kentridge: Black Box/Chambre Noire’, 29 October –15 January 2006
Galeria Lia Rumma, Naples, ‘William Kentridge’, November
The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, ‘William Kentridge: 7 Fragments for Georges Méliès’,
11 December – 26 February 2006
Group Exhibitions
51st Venice Biennale, Italian Pavilion, ‘The Experience of Art’, 12 June – 6 November
Film
Preparing the Flute, miniature theatre with drawings (charcoal, pastel and coloured pencil on paper) and front and rear projections from 35 mm animated film transferred to video, 21:06 min.
Black Box/Chambre Noire, miniature theatre with drawings (charcoal, pastel, coloured pencil and collage on paper), mechanical puppets, and back and front projection, including 35 mm animation and documentary footage transferred to video, 22:00 min.
Theatre and Performance
Directs Die Zauberflöte, La Monnaie, Brussels, premiere April 26 (toured in 2006–7 to Lille, Caen, Naples, Geneva, Johannesburg)
2006
Solo Exhibitions
Marian Goodman Gallery, New York, ‘William Kentridge/The Magic Flute: Drawings and Projections’,
19 January – 25 February
San Francisco Art Institute, ‘William Kentridge’ (exhibition and 2006 McBean Distinguished Lecture), 25 January – 25 March
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, ‘William Kentridge: 7 Fragments for George Méliès’, 24 February – 21 May
Johannesburg Art Gallery, Johannesburg, ‘William Kentridge: Black Box/Chambre Noire’, 7 May – 9 July
Museum Höxter-Corvey, Höxter, ‘William Kentridge: Black Box/Chambre Noire’, May – June
Art for the World, Isola Madre, ‘William Kentridge: Preparing the Flute’, 10 June – 19 September
Galerie Marian Goodman, Paris, ‘William Kentridge’, 20 June – 27 July
Museum der Moderne Salzburg, ‘William Kentridge: Black Box/Chambre Noire’, 26 July – 10 August
Film
The Museum of Modern Art, New York, ‘William Kentridge: 9 Drawings for Projection’, 15–20 February
Theatre and Performance
Die Zauberflöte, Lille and Caen, February 28 – March 12; Tel Aviv, May 24; Naples, 6–14 October
Awards
Jesse L. Rosenberger Medal, University of Chicago (and Kovler Fellowship)
2007
Solo Exhibitions
Moderna Museet, Stockholm, ‘William Kentridge: 7 Fragments for Georges Méliès and Black Box/Chambre Noire’, 3 February –15 April (toured to Malmo Konsthall, Stockholm, 31 May)
Hamburger Bahnhof Museum für Gegenwart, Berlin, ‘William Kentridge: 7 Fragments for Georges Méliès, Journey to the Moon, Day for Night’, 7 February – 6 May
Städel Museum, Frankfurt, ‘William Kentridge: What Will Come (has already come)’, 1 June – 5 August
Il Sole 24 Ore: Domenica, Milan, April: 5 large drawings published in consecutive editions of Domenica
Kunsthalle Bremen, Bremen, ‘William Kentridge: Doppelt Sehen – Neue Zeichnungen und Projektionen’, 12 August – 23 September
Edinburgh Festival, ‘William Kentridge’s Prints’, August (toured to Smith College, Northampton, MA, 28 September – 6 January 2008)
University of Brighton, Brighton, November
Goodman Gallery, Johannesburg, November
Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, ‘William Kentridge: 10 Tapestries’, 12 December – 6 April 2008
Group Exhibitions
Bienal do Mercosul, Porto Alegre, ‘Zona Franca/Free Zone’, 1 September – 8 November
Kunstmuseum Bonn, ‘GOING STAYING: Movement, Body, Place in Contemporary Art’, 22 November –10 February 2008
Film
What Will Come (has already come), projection installation with table, drawing paper and cylindrical steel mirror, and 35 mm animated film transferred to video, 8:40 min.
Times Square, New York, ‘The 59th Minute: Video Art on the Times Square Astrovision’, screening of Shadow Procession
Theatre and Performance
The Magic Flute, Brooklyn Academy of Music, New York, premiere 9 April (Cape Town, premiere 8 September; Johannesburg, premiere 29 September)
Il Ritorno d’Ulisse, La Monnaie, Brussels
Awards
National Orders, Pretoria, South Africa awarded Order of Ikhamanga (Silver)
2008
Solo Exhibitions
Marian Goodman Gallery, New York, ‘William Kentridge: Seeing Double’, 16 January – 23 February
Galerie Marian Goodman, Paris, ‘William Kentridge’, April – May
Annandale Galleries, Sydney, ‘William Kentridge’, June – July
La Fenice, Venice/Fondazione Spinola Banna per l’Arte, Turin, November
The South African National Gallery, Cape Town, ‘I am not me, the horse is not mine’ (lecture and installation of 8 film fragments)
Goodman Gallery, Cape Town, ‘William Kentridge: (REPEAT) From the Beginning’, December – January 2009
Group Exhibitions
Vera List Center for Art and Politics, New York/Institute for Contemporary Art, Philadelphia, ‘The Puppet Show’, 17 January –30 March (toured to Santa Monica Museum of Art, 16 May – 9 August; The Contemporary Museum, Honolulu, 5 September – 23 November; Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston, January – 12 April, 2009; The Frye Art Museum, Seattle, 16 May – 13 September, 2009)
New Orleans, ‘Prospect 1: 1st New Orleans Biennale,’ 30 October – 1 November
IMMA, Dublin, ‘In Praise of Shadows’, 5 November – 11 January 2008 (toured to Istanbul Modern, Istanbul, 27 January – 3 May 2009; Benaki Museum, Athens, 23 May – 26 June 2009)
Film
I am not me, the horse is not mine, 8-channel video installation, 35 mm film and video using animation, live action and archival footage, transferred to video, 6:00 min.
Breathe Dissolve Return, video triptych, DVCAM and HDV, using sculptures, live actors, torn paper animation, transferred to video, 6:00 min.
Theatre and Performance
Woyzeck on the Highveld, The Market Theatre, Johannesburg, 25 February – 29 March (toured to Perth, 3–6 April)
Il Ritorno d’Ulisse, La Fenice, Venice, November (toured to Girona, Besancon, Nimes, Toulouse)
Creates I am not me, the horse is not mine, solo lecture/performance by Kentridge with projection, c. 45 minutes
Awards
Honorary Doctorate, Rhodes University, Grahamstown
Oskar Kokoschka Award, Vienna
2009
Solo Exhibitions
Henry Art Gallery, Seattle, ‘William Kentridge’, 7 February – 3 May
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, ‘William Kentridge: 5 Themes’, 14 March – 31 May (toured to Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, 28 June – 27 September; Norton Museum of Art, West Palm Beach, 1 November – 31 January 2010; The Museum of Modern Art, New York, 28 February – 30 May 2010; Jeu de Paume, Paris, 5 July – 26 September 2010; Albertina Museum, Vienna, 30 October 2010 – 30 January 2011; Israel Museum, Jerusalem, 5 March – 29 May 2011; The Garage, Moscow, September; Australian Centre for the Moving Image, Melbourne, 8 March – 27 May 2012)
Museum of Modern Art Kyoto (MoMAK), ‘William Kentridge: What We See & What We Know– Thinking about History Whilst Walking, and thus the Drawings Began to Move’, 4 September – 18 October (toured to National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, January 2 – February 14, 2010; Hiroshima City Museum of Contemporary Art, 13 March – 9 May 2010)
Capodimonte Museum, ‘William Kentridge Tapestries,’ 14 November – 10 January 2010
Group Exhibitions
The British Museum, London, ‘Medals of Dishonour’, 25 June – 27 September
Goodman Gallery, Johannesburg, ‘Encounters Film Festival’, 25 June – 4 July
Goteborg, ‘Goteborg Biennale: What A Wonderful World’, 5 September – 15 November
Film
Creates first ‘Drawing Lesson’ films, informal and ongoing series of films shot in the studio and using Kentridge as live actor, drawing, animation
Theatre and Performance
Il Ritorno di Ulisse, Seattle, March 11 (toured to San Francisco, 25–31 July)
The Magic Flute, Festival d’Aix, Aix-en-Provence, 23–26 August
Il Ritorno di Ulisse, Edinburgh Festival, Edinburgh, 23–26 September
Woyzeck on the Highveld, Festival d’Automne, Paris (toured to Rome, Chalons, Wroclaw, Girona, Bordeaux, Madrid, Granada, Malaga, Seville, Annecy, Mulhouse, Strasbourg)
2010
Solo Exhibitions
Krannert Art Museum, University of Illinois, ‘William Kentridge: Ambivalent Affinities’, 28 January – 23 May
Musée du Louvre, Paris, ‘William Kentridge: Carnets d’Egypte’, 30 June – 23 August
Galerie Marian Goodman, Paris, ‘William Kentridge: Breathe, Dissolve, Return’, September–October
Group Exhibitions
Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, ‘Production Site: The Artist’s Studio Inside Out’, 1 February – 1 May
Melbourne Arts Centre, Melbourne, ‘Experimentopia’, 12 February – 14 March
InContext, Johannesburg Art Gallery, Arts on Main, and other venues in Johannesburg, ‘I am not me, the horse is not mine’, 2 May – 3 August
Cantor Arts Center, Stanford, ‘Longing for Sea Change’, June – September
Athens Festival, 1–15 June
SMAC Gallery, Stellenbosch, ‘Divisions: Aspects of South African Art 1948–2010’, 5 June – 31 August
SITE Santa Fe, 8th International Biennial, 20 June – 2 January 2011
InContext, Apartheid Museum, Johannesburg, ‘World on Its Hind Legs’ (in cooperation with the Goodman Gallery, Johannesburg), 8 July
Rio de Janeiro, Anima Mundi, 16–25 July
Film
Carnets d’Egypte, two cycles of films titled Carnets d’Egypte (Salle 26), 10 films, and Carnets d’Egypte (les livres), 4 films; video, using drawing, animation, live acting by Kentridge
Stuttgart Festival of Animated Film, 4–9 May
Theatre and Performance
I am not me, the horse is not mine, The Museum of Modern Art, New York, 4 March; Hiroshima City Museum of Contemporary Art, 16 April; Festival Bo:m, Seoul, 19 April; Theater der Welt, Mulheim, 3–4 July
Directs The Nose, opera by Dmitri Shostakovich, The Metropolitan Opera, New York, 5, 11, 13, 18 and 23 March
Sounds from the Black Box (concert of live music written for Kentridge’s films, with projections of the films)
Philip Miller, Pi Ensemble, 21–22 March; Palazzo Reale, Milan, 15–19 March)
Telegrams from the Nose (created with Francois Sarhan, performed by Francois Sarhan and the Ictus Ensemble), Happy New Festival, Kortrijk, 25 April; Holland Festival, Amsterdam, 19 June; Musée du Louvre, Paris, 22 October; Centre Pompidou, Metz, 23 October)
Il Ritorno di Ulisse, Theater der Welt, Essen, 10 July
Playing on Image, Arts on Main, Johannesburg (live concert with projected films and performances by Philip Miller, Jill Richards, William Kentridge), 25 September
Awards
Honorary Doctorate of the Royal College of Art, Royal College of Art, London
Kyoto Prize (for contributions in the field of Arts and Philosophy), Inamori Foundation, Kyoto
2011
Solo Exhibitions
Seagull Editions, Calcutta, ‘William Kentridge’, 29 January
Galleria Lia Rumma, Milan, ‘William Kentridge’, March – April
Le Laboratoire, Paris, ‘La Negation du Temps – Prologue’, 25 March – 26 June
Marian Goodman Gallery, New York, ‘William Kentridge: Other Faces’, 6 May – 18 June
Cité du Livre, Aix-en-Provence, ‘I am not me, the horse is not mine’, 22 June –3 September
Atelier Cézanne, Aix-en-Provence, ‘Chostakovitch’, 22 June – 3 September
Goodman Gallery, Johannesburg, ‘William Kentridge: Other Faces’, November–December
Group Exhibitions
Boston University Art Gallery at the Stone Gallery, Boston, ‘Three Artists from The Caversham Press: Deborah Bell, Robert Hodgins, William Kentridge’, February–March
The 808 Gallery, Boston University, ‘Artists, Prints, Community: Twenty Five Years at The Caversham Press’, February – March (toured to Standard Bank Gallery, Johannesburg, October–November)
Museu de Arte Contemporanea, Niterói, ‘(Re)construções: Arte Contemporânea da Africa do Sul’, 19 March – 15 May
Kunsthalle Wien, Vienna. ‘Space. About a Dream (Weltraum. Die Kunst und eid Traum)’, 1 April – 31 July
Contemporary Art Museum, Krakow, ‘Alias’, May
Barbican Gallery, London, ‘Watch Me Move: the Animation Show’, 15 June – 11 September
Theatre and Performance
The Magic Flute, Opera de Rouen Haute-Normandie, 11–22 February
I am not me, the horse is not mine, Galeria Lia Rumma, Milan (in conjunction with solo exhibition at the gallery), 19 March; The Garage, Moscow (in conjunction with exhibition ‘William Kentridge: 5 Themes’), October 1; iDANS Festival, Istanbul, 6 October
The Magic Flute, La Scala, Milan, 20 March – 3 April; Théatre des Champs-Elysée, Paris, 16, 18, 20, 22, 25 and 26 December
The Nose (Le Nez), Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, 8, 10, 12 and 14 July; Opera de Lyon, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16 and 18 October
Refuse the Hour, a series of performance events at The Market Theatre, Johannesburg, 6–18 September
Woyzeck on the Highveld, Minneapolis, Chapel Hill, Milan, Combs la Ville, Sartrouville, Lisbon, London, Charleville Meziere, Bolzano, Budapest, Coventry, Belfast, Cardiff, Aberystwyth, Truro, Exeter, Oxford
Film
Anti-Mercator, 35 mm film and video using drawing, animation, live actors, transferred to video, 9:45 min.
Other Faces, 35 mm animated film transferred to video, 9:45 min.
Awards
Honorary Member, American Academy of Arts and Letters
MASSART President’s Award for Creative Achievement, Boston
Southern Graphics Council International Award for Lifetime Achievement in Printing, Saint Louis
International Art Critics Association Award (for performance of I am not me, the horse is not mine, in conjunction with ‘Performa’)
Doctor of Literature Honoris Causa, London University, London
2012
Solo Exhibitions
CAC, Malaga, ‘William Kentridge: ¿No se unirá usted al baile?’, 14 February – 13 May
Annandale Galleries, Sydney, ‘William Kentridge: Universal Archive (parts 7–23)’, 6 March – 21 April
Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Chicago, ‘MCA DNA: William Kentridge’, 19 September 2012 – 5 May 2013
Instituto Moreira Salles, Rio de Janeiro, ‘William Kentridge: Fortuna’, 24 October – 17 February 2013
Tate Modern, London, ‘William Kentridge: I am not me, the horse is not mine’, 11 November – 20 January 2013
MAXXI – Museo Nazionale delle Arti del XXI Secolo, Milan, ‘William Kentridge: Vertical Thinking’, 17 November – 3 March 2013
The Blue Coat, Liverpool, ‘William Kentridge as Printmaker’, 7 December 2012 – 3 February 2013 (toured to Volte Gallery, Mumbai, ‘Poems I Used To Know’, February 6 to March 2013, mac, Birmingham, ‘William Kentridge as Printmaker’, March 16 – June 2 2013, QUAD, Derby, ‘William Kentridge as Printmaker’, 15 June –18 August 2013, University of Northumbria Gallery, Newcastle, ‘William Kentridge as Printmaker’, 30 August – 11 October 2013)
Goodman Gallery, Cape Town, ‘William Kentridge: No, It Is’, 18 December 2012 – 2 February 2013
Group Exhibitions
Kassel, Documenta 13, 9 June – 16 September
International Centre of Photography, New York, ‘Rise and Fall of Apartheid: Photography and the Bureaucracy of Everyday Life’, 14 September – 6 January 2013
Film
The Refusal of Time, in collaboration with Philip Miller (composer) and Catherine Meyburgh (video construction and editing), 5-channel video installation with four megaphones and breathing machine (elephant), 35 mm film and video with animation, live action, stills, transferred to video, 28:00 min.
Theatre and Performance
Creates, in collaboration with Philip Miller (composer), Dada Masilo (choreography and dance) and Catherine Meyburgh (video construction and editing), Refuse the Hour, theatre piece using projections, a dancer, actors, machines, live musicians and singers, c, 80:00 min.
Lecture Series
Six Drawing Lessons, series of six lectures delivered for the Eliot Norton Professorship of Poetry, Harvard University, Cambridge
Awards
Member of the American Philosophical Society, Philadelphia
Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Cambridge
Member of the Académie Royale des Sciences, des Lettres, et des Beaux-arts de Belgique, Brussels
Commandeur dans l’ordre des Arts et des Lettres au titre de la promotiondes personnalités étrangères, France
Laureate of the Dan David Prize (for the Present Time Dimension in the Field of Plastic Arts), Tel Aviv University
2013
Solo Exhibitions
Volte Gallery, Mumbai, ‘William Kentridge’, 5 February
Fundação Iberê Camargo, Porto Alegre, ‘William Kentridge: Fortuna’, 7 March – 26 May 2013
Pinacoteca do Estado de São Paulo, São Paulo, ‘William Kentridge: Fortuna’, 30 August – 17 November
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, William Kentridge: The Refusal of Time, 21 October – 11 May, 2014
Marian Goodman Gallery, New York, William Kentridge: Second-hand Reading, 18 September – 26 October
Group Exhibitions
New York, Editions/Artists’ Book Fair, 24–27 January
Theatre and Performance
Refuse the Hour performed in Paris as part of the Quartier d’Ete festival, 23 – 27 July; Vienna as part of ImpulsTanz, 1 – 4 August
The Nose (first performed 2010) revival at the Metropolitan Opera, New York, 28 September – 26 October
Lectures
Conversation with Sir Sydney Kentridge in the context of the exhibition ‘The Rise and Fall of Apartheid’, curated by Okwui Enwezor, at Haus der Kunst, Munich, 26 April
‘Thinking on one’s feet: A walking tour of the studio’ (lecture) and ‘Pictures and Texts’ (symposium), delivered as part of the Humanitas 2013 Visiting Professorship in Contemporary Art, Universities of Oxford and Cambridge, 6 and 9 May
Six Drawing Lessons (originally given at Harvard in 2012) series of six lectures delivered as part of the Johannesburg Workshop in Theory and Criticism, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg
Distinguished Visiting Humanist, University of Rochester NY, 18 – 20 September
‘Listening to the Image’, Neubauer Collegium for Culture and Society, University of Chicago, 3 October
Awards and Honours
Honorary Doctor of Fine Arts, Yale University
2014
Solo Exhibitions
Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, William Kentridge: The Refusal of Time, 4 February – 4 May
Parasophia, Kyoto (former Rissei Elementary School), William Kentridge: The Refusal of Time, 8 February – 16 March
Perth International Arts Festival, William Kentridge: The Refusal of Time, 13 February – 27 April
Johannesburg Art Gallery, William Kentridge: The Refusal of Time, 9 November – 1 February, 2015
The Goodman Gallery, Johannesburg, William Kentridge: Drawings: East Rand Proprietary Mines Cash Book, November 15th – December 20th
Wits Art Museum, Johannesburg, William Kentridge: Tapestries, November 18th – February 22nd, 2015
EMMA, Helsinki, William Kentridge: The Refusal of Time, June 18th – September 14th
Theatre and Performance
Five in the series of Six Drawing Lessons lectures delivered in Hamburg, 31 January – 1 February
Refuse the Hour performed in Hamburg, 1 – 2 February
Philip Miller & William Kentridge, Paper Music, Bargello Museum, Florence, September 11th, 2014
Philip Miller & William Kentridge, Paper Music, Carnegie Hall, New York City, October 27th, 2014
Lectures
‘A Dream of Love Reciprocated: History & the Image’, Humboldt University, Berlin, as part of Mosse Lecture series, 3 February
Awards and Honours
Honorary Doctor of Literature, University of Cape Town
2015
Solo exhibitions
IZIKO South African National Gallery, Cape Town, William Kentridge: The Refusal of Time, 19 February – 21 June
Museo Universitario Arte Contemporáneo, Mexico City, William Kentridge : FORTUNA, 14 March – June 2015
EYE Film Institute Netherlands, Amsterdam, William Kentridge: If We Ever Get to Heaven, 24 April – August 30, 2015
HausKonstruktiv Zurich, William Kentridge: The Nose, June 3
Ullens Centre for Contemporary Art, Beijing, William Kentridge: Notes Towards a Model Opera, June 25 – August 30
Marian Goodman Gallery, London, William Kentridge: More Sweetly Play the Dance, September 10
Marian Goodman Gallery, New York, William Kentridge: drawings for LULU [this is a provisional title], 2 November 2015
National Museum of Contemporary Art, Seoul, William Kentridge: Notes Towards a Model Opera, December 1 – April 3, 2016
Two-artist exhibition
Freie Universität Berlin and the Kupferstichkabinett. Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Double Vision: Albrecht Durer / William Kentridge, 18 November
Group exhibitions
Parasophia: Kyoto International Festival of Contemporary Culture 2015, Kyoto, Japan
Summer Exhibition, Royal Academy of Art, London, June 1, 2015
56th Venice biennale 2015: ALL THE WORLD’S FUTURES, 9 May to 22 November 2015
14th Istanbul Biennale 2015: SALTWATER, September 5 to November 1, 2015
Bad Rothenfelde, Germany, Lichtsicht 5, 18 September 2015 to 7 February 2016
Theatre and Performance
Refuse the Hour performed in Cape Town as part of Design Indaba 2015, 26 + 27 February
LULU (opera by Alban Berg), Dutch National Opera, June 1 – 28, 2015
Refuse the Hour performed at BAM, New York, 22-25 October; Yale 6,7 November 2015
LULU, Metropolitan Opera New York, November 5 – December 3, 2015
Winterreise (song cycle by Schubert) performed in Siena (July 201), Singapore (September), Luxembourg (November),
Lectures
‘Peripheral Thinking’: Design Indaba 2015, Cape Town, 27 February; MUAC, Mexico City, 14 March; Europalia Festival Brussels, May 12; UCCA Beijing, 27 June; Asia Art Archive, Hong Kong, June 30; Yale University, 8 November
‘O Sentimental Machine’, Princeton University, 14 October
Awards and Honours
Honorary Academician of the Royal Academy of Arts, London
Association Internationale du Film d’Animation Prize, Krakow
