Art21 Extended Play

William Kentridge: Collaboration

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In celebration of Art21’s new feature film William Kentridge: Anything Is Possible — which premiered nationally on October 21, 2010 and will continue to air on PBS (check local listings) — the Exclusive series devoted the past six weeks to telling stories about Kentridge’s numerous artistic collaborators. This is the final episode of six. Be sure to catch the full mini-series featuring: Peter Gelb at the Metropolitan Opera, Composer Philip Miller, Weaver Marguerite Stephens, Studio Manager Anne McIlleron, and Sabine Theunissen & John Pitts on the opera curtain for The Nose.

Episode #127: Three of William Kentridge’s long-time collaborators — Sabine Theunissen (Set Design), Catherine Meyburgh (Video Composite & Editing), and Kim Gunning (Video Control & Projection) — recount the creative process of mounting a production of The Nose (2010) at The Metropolitan Opera, New York.

Having witnessed first-hand one of the twentieth century’s most contentious struggles—the dissolution of apartheid—William Kentridge brings the ambiguity and subtlety of personal experience to public subjects most often framed in narrowly defined terms. Using film, drawing, sculpture, animation, and performance, he transmutes sobering political events into powerful poetic allegories. Aware of myriad ways in which we construct the world by looking, Kentridge often uses optical illusions to extend his drawings-in-time into three dimensions.

William Kentridge is featured in the Season 5 (2009) episode Compassion of the Art in the Twenty-First Century television series and the Art21 special, William Kentridge: Anything Is Possible (2010), both on PBS. Watch full episodes online for free via PBS Video or Hulu, as a paid download via iTunes (link opens application), or as part of a Netflix streaming subscription.

VIDEO | Producer: Wesley Miller & Nick Ravich. Interview: Eve Moros Ortega & Susan Sollins. Camera: Robert Elfstrom & Joel Shapiro. Sound: Ray Day, Roger Phenix & Mark Roy. Editor: Mary Ann Toman. Artwork Courtesy: William Kentridge. Special Thanks: Kim Gunning, Catherine Meyburgh, Sabine Theunissen, & The Metropolitan Opera, New York. © 2010 Art21, Inc.

This program is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.