William Kentridge: More Sweetly Play the Dance

Contemporary South African artist William Kentridge’s More Sweetly Play the Dance will make its North American museum premiere at the Cincinnati Art Museum from April 26–January 28, 2018.

This powerful film installation encircles the viewer with seven screens, on which a procession of travelers passes across a charcoal-drawn animated landscape. The immersive panorama hints at multiple histories, evoking a danse macabre, a jazz funeral, an exodus, and a journey. Accompanied by a brass band, the film references medieval manuscripts and the storylines of refuge throughout history.

Commissioned in 2015 by the EYE Filmmuseum, the installation melds silhouettes with the artist’s distinctive animated charcoal drawings. Kentridge’s work often begins on a single piece of paper, drawing and then erasing, adding new elements, and photographing his compositions of each state. These images are connected together to create animated figures that pass from screen to screen bringing the film to life. The film is 14 minutes and will be played in a loop.

Cameron Kitchin, the museum’s Louis and Louise Dieterle Nippert Director, comments, “Presenting this spectacular new work by William Kentridge is evidence of an artist in his prime. The relevance of the work to today’s civic discourse is essential and revelatory for our visitors and educators. The Cincinnati Art Museum continues its unwavering commitment to inquiries into contemporary art from all cultures.”

William Kentridge: More Sweetly Play the Dance will be on view in Gallery 105, between the Cincinnati Wing and the newly renovated African Gallery.

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http://www.cincinnatiartmuseum.org/kentridge/