William Kentridge's Black Box/Chambre Noire exhibition received huge acclaim at the Deutsche Guggenheim Berlin

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Kentridge exhibition is 'grief work' William Kentridge examines grief and guilt in his exhibition Black Box/Chambre Noire at the Johannesburg Art Gallery, through the history of German colonialism in Africa and the Herero massacre in particular. May 16, 2006 By JoNews Reporter GRIEF, guilt and culpability are explored in William Kentridge's Black Box/Chambre Noire exhibition, now on at the Johannesburg Art Gallery. Sponsored by Deutsche Bank, the work was commissioned for the Deutsche Guggenheim Berlin and received huge acclaim at the Germany gallery, where it was on show from October 2005 to January this year. In Black Box/Chambre Noire, "Kentridge explores constructions of history and meaning, while examining the processes of grief, guilt and culpability as well as the shifting vantage points of political engagement and responsibility", according to the SA Info website. In it, the development of visual technologies and the history of colonialism intersect through Kentridge's exploration of the history of the German colonial presence in Africa, in particular the 1904 German massacre of the Hereros in South West Africa (now Namibia). William Kentridge's Black Box/Chambre Noire exhibition is now on at the Johannesburg Art Gallery Bridget van Oerle of BUZ Publicity, co-ordinators of the exhibition, said it consisted of animated films, kinetic sculptural objects, drawings and mechanised theatre in miniature. Framed drawings line the gallery walls, and visitors can watch a 23-minute long mini-video about historical events and articles collected during Kentridge's research of the 1904 genocide in Namibia. The artist uses old newspaper headlines and articles to reflect a deep engagement with issues of history and memory. According to the gallery, Kentridge's work explores the history of Africa and of South Africa. In this exhibition he examines the term "black box" from three perspectives, namely a "black box" theatre, a "chambre noire" as it relates to photography and the "black box" flight data recorder used to record information in an airline disaster. "Kentridge is recognised as one of the most important artists of our time, and his ability to blend formal technique with an emotionally complex understanding of sociopolitical history will, hopefully, appeal to many people," says Martin Kingston, the chairperson of Deutsche Bank in South Africa. The SA Info website reports that Kentridge creates a mechanical, miniaturised world theatre, an elegy to forgotten history that includes themes from Mozart's The Magic Flute and the German genocide of the Namibian Herero. It was while preparing to direct a major production of Mozart's work that the artist began to explore the history of German colonialism in Africa through the lens of its colonial era cinema. This led to Black Box/Chambre Noire, which explores the darker implications of that period's philosophical legacy. "I'm looking at German colonisation in reference to Namibia for the exhibition," he says. "I went there to look at the place where there was a great massacre of the Herero by the Germans from 1904 to 1907. Some of that archival material and footage shot in the mountain where the genocide began is in the final piece." The Black Box/Chambre Noire exhibition is open at the Johannesburg Art Gallery until Sunday, 9 July, on Tuesday to Sunday from 10am to 5pm. The gallery is at Joubert Park, King George Street, between Wolmarans and Noord Streets. For more information contact gallery on 011 725 3130. Permission to use web site material Publishers may use material from this site free of charge, as long as: Credit is given to either the "City of Johannesburg website (www.joburg.org.za)" or to "Johannesburg News Agency (www.joburg.org.za)"; If the article is used online, a link is provided to the original article on this website; The name of the article's author is acknowledged; The webmaster is informed of how and where the material is used (fill in this brief online form). Johannesburg News Agency is operated by BIG Media at 011-484-1400 Print this Page E-mail this article to a friend Help using Joburg.org.za