William Kentridge: Thick Time

William Kentridge (born 1955, Johannesburg) 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 in which he explores time, history and revolutionary politics. In 2016 the Whitechapel Gallery will present an exhibition of his recent works, focussing on a sequence of five key pieces dating from 2003 to 2016. It will encompass three immersive audiovisual installations, including The Refusal of Time (first shown at dOCUMENTA (13) in 2012), selected works on paper, and material charting the development of a major production of Austrian composer Alban Berg’s unfinished stage work Lulu (1935), staged at ENO in November 2016 and directed by William Kentridge.

Accompanying a major European tour, this fully-illustrated catalogue will include new critical writings on each of the works presented: by venue curators Iwona Blazwick, Sabine Breitwieser and Michael Juul Holm; by Denise Wendel-Poray, a writer interested in the relationship between art, theatre and music; and by influential post-colonial studies academic Homi Bhabha. The book will also feature a selected exhibition history and comprehensive bibliography.