CV115 - William Kentridge, More Sweetly Play The Dance — Érika Nimis
Ciel variable 115 - The March of the World (Summer 2020)
Portfolio (Individual Article, Digital Version)
William Kentridge, More Sweetly Play The Dance
La marche du monde | The March of the World
By Érika Nimis
William Kentridge’s multi-screen installation More Sweetly Play the Dance, a vast fresco in motion, features a parade whose characters, props, and setting evoke the apartheidera. During the first exhibition of the work at the National Gallery of Canada since it was acquired, Érika Nimis observed that it resonates beyond South Africa, notably through its allusions to communism, inseparable from the anti-apartheid struggle. “Although Kentridge clearly draws his references from the tragic course of history, he does so in order to better explore the march of the world,” she writes, noting that he overturns the codes of historical painting by making the march a loop – “or circular.” Behind the festive, or carnival-like, tone, More Sweetly Play the Dancehas a critical function. “The different figures in the procession stand for the many layers of a single narrative that questions the direction of history – or, rather, its lack of direction.”
Details
Language: French
Digital file: PDF, 5.5 Mb
Bibliographical Reference
Érika Nimis, « William Kentridge, More Sweetly Play The Dance &mdash La marche du monde »,Ciel variable, no 115, « La marche du monde », Montréal, 2020, p. 22-31.