William Kentridge
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
CAP UCLA presents Refuse the Hour William Kentridge Philip Miller Dada Masilo, Catherine Meyburgh, Peter Galison Fri, Nov 17 & Sat Nov 18 | Royce Hall Photo by John Hodgkiss East Side, MESSAGE FROM THE DIRECTOR West Side, All Around LA Welcome to the Center for the Art of Performance The Center for the Art of Performance is not a place. It’s more of a state of mind that embraces experimentation, encourages Photo by Ian Maddox a culture of the curious, champions disruptors and dreamers and One would have to admit that the masterful work of William Kentridge leaves supports the commitment and courage of artists. We promote virtually no artistic discipline unexplored, untampered with, or under-excavated in rigor, craft and excellence in all facets of the performing arts. service to his vigilant engagement with the known world. He has done x, y z, p, d, q, (installations, exhibitions, theater works, prints, drawings, animations, innumerable collaborations, etc.) and then some, over the arc of his career and there is nothing on the horizon line of his trajectory that indicates any notion of relenting any time 2017–18 SEASON VENUES soon. Royce Hall, UCLA Freud Playhouse, UCLA Over the years I have been asked to offer explanations and descriptions of the The Theatre at Ace Hotel Little Theater, UCLA works of William Kentridge while encountering it in numerous occasions around the Will Rogers State Historic Park world. As a curator, one is expected to possess the necessary expertise to rapidly summarize dimensional artistry. But in a gesture of truth, my attempts fail in UCLA’s Center for the Art of Performance (CAP UCLA) is dedicated to the advancement juxtaposition to the vastly better reality of experiencing his utter artistic singularity, of the contemporary performing arts in all disciplines—dance, music, spoken word and the staggering dimension of thoughtful care he takes in finding form. To me, he and theater—as well as emerging digital, collaborative and cross-platforms utilized by is a living celebration of making. today’s leading artists. Part of UCLA’s School of the Arts and Architecture, CAP UCLA curates and facilitates direct exposure to contemporary performance from around the Refuse the Hour is a chamber opera for the stage that expands upon, or possibly globe, supporting artists who are creating extraordinary works of art and fostering a compresses, his explorations about the nature of time from his widely acclaimed vibrant learning community both on and off the UCLA campus. The organization invests five-channel video installation entitled, The Refusal of Time. Both works stand as in the creative process by providing artists with financial backing and time to experiment a meditation on different historical conceptions of time and the complex legacies of colonialism and industry. Kentridge himself plays the central narrator, providing and expand their practices through strategic partnerships, residencies and collaborations. a fragmented lecture of sorts that winds through the constructs of time—from As an influential voice within the local, national, and global arts community, CAP UCLA virtually every possible angle—starting with Perseus (myth) and ending with serves to connect audiences across generations in order to galvinize a living archive of Einstein (science). Throughout, is the forward march of time, the emotional life of our culture. our relationship to time, the colonial imposition of organized time, the industrial clock and its system of controlled labor in service to monetized time. Time can cap.ucla.edu run backwards (metaphorically and in winding the hands of a clock), against the #CAPUCLA backdrop of a collective acknowledgement that we have limited time through which we might live a life, procrastinate, regret, exult, seize, take agency, rise up, fall over, release, relinquish and/or resist. In that span of time we are given an opportunity to reflect and engage with the cacophony of our inner and outer worlds. Kentridge explores how we are able to make sense of contradictory things happening at the same time, and his staged work challenges our capacity to feel overwhelmed while simultaneously being entranced with sublime sounds, texts, movement and imagery. The absurd and the essential collide within a poetic staging of time—a performance lasting 80 minutes. I would like to thank William Kentridge, Philip Miller, Dada Masilo, Catherine Meyburgh, Peter Galison and all of the collaborators involved for agreeing to revisit this production now, in this particular moment in time, and for entrusting CAP UCLA with facilitating its presentation in Los Angeles. —Kristy Edmunds, Executive and Artistic Director Photo by John Hodgkiss PRESHOW: Animating Newsprint Center for the Art of Performance presents ART IN ACTION Stop by our “making station” before each performance and try your hand at transforming newsprint, inspired by the art of William Kentridge. We’ll have all the supplies—newsprint, Refuse the Hour charcoal, stencils, stamps—you bring the ideas. A Talk About Time Sat, Nov 18 at 5pm | Royce Rehearsal Studio William Kentridge Artist William Kentridge and physicist Peter Galison Philip Miller are two of the collaborators behind their chamber opera, Refuse the Hour. Join us for a conversation Dada Masilo, Catherine Meyburgh, Peter Galison about the cultural and scientific implications of time, Fri, Nov 17 & Sat, Nov 18 at 8pm moderated by Andrea Ghez, Professor of Physics and Royce Hall Astronomy and Founder/Director of UCLA Galactic Center. This event is free, but seating is limited and Running time: Approx. 80 mins. | No intermission intimate. You must RSVP at cap.ucla.edu/TalkAboutTime. Performers William Kentridge History of Science Colloquium with Peter Galison Dada Masilo | dancer Mon, Nov 20 at 4pm | Royce Member Lounge Ann Masina | vocalist Presented in collaboration with our colleagues from Joanna Dudley | performer / vocalist the UCLA Department of History/Science, Medicine Thato Motlhaolwa | actor and Technology. Peter will discuss science, film and Adam Howard | musical conductor, writing as complementary forms of research, using POSTSHOW: NightCAP co-orchestration, trumpet and flugel horn his own work as examples. This event is free, you CAP UCLA Artist Circle Tlale Makhene | percussion must RSVP at cap.ucla.edu/Galison. Members are invited to a celebratory toast with Waldo Alexander | violin the artists in the Royce Dan Selsick | trombone Hall Donor Lounge after Vincenzo Pasquariello | piano the performance. Thobeka Thukane | tuba Creative Team MESSAGE FROM THE ARTIST Conception and libretto by William Kentridge Music by Philip Miller A projection on a ceiling. Audience members can see the images leaning their heads back, looking up; or look down into small mirrors they each hold. The Choreography | Dada Masilo archive of images held in the air can be brought down to the private view. This Video design | Catherine Meyburgh and William Kentridge is the starting point for our project. The ceiling projection was abandoned (we Dramaturgy | Peter Galison did not find the right ceiling). The idea was consigned to ‘the room of failures’— Scenic design | Sabine Theunissen yet to be constructed. Another starting point. An invitation by the Paris Movement | Luc de Wit institution Laboratoire, to do a project with a scientist. A series of conversations with Peter Galison commenced (ongoing). The project changed from the pre- Costume design | Greta Goiris history of relativity to a general consideration of time. Machine design | Christoff Wolmarans, Louis Olivier, and Jonas Lundquist A third alternative starting point. An invitation, and a beautiful bombed Lighting design | Felice Ross shell of a theatre, from dOCUMENTA. It was the right place to expand the Sound design | Gavan Eckhart consideration and making of the project on time. (The beautiful bombed theatre disappeared—to hold the air-conditioning unit of a new hotel.) Video orchestration | Kim Gunning Music direction | Adam Howard A fourth starting point. An interest in working with the dancer Dada Masilo. The Music arranged and orchestrated | Philip Miller and Adam Howard desire and the intention needed a subject. A particle collision. The conversation with the scientist became a duet for movement and voice. Production A fifth starting point. From the conversations with Peter Galison, a series of Technical Director | Richard Pierre ideas and metaphors erupted, each idea needing to become materialised. Lighting Operator | Marine Deballon Synchronicity into projected metronomes. Time into sound. A need to follow the Sound Engineer | Laurens Ingels metaphors and make them visible, audible. Video Controller | Kim Gunning Company Manager | Carol Blanco A sixth starting point. A team assembled. Philip Miller (composer), to turn time into sound. Catherine Meyburgh (video editor), to orchestrate the projected Technical Consultant US | Brendon Boyd images. Jonas Lundquist, to make mechanical (a bellows and a bicycle wheel) the principles of relativity. Christoff Wolmarans and Louis Olivier to do the Refuse the Hour was originally co-commissioned by Holland Festival same (a bicycle wheel and a megaphone). Sabine Theunissen (scenic designer) (Amsterdam), Festival d’Avignon, RomaEuropa Festival/Teatro di Roma (Roma), to make the context for the machines, the dance, the music, the projections. and Onassis Cultural Center (Athens), with additional support provided by Greta Goiris (costume designer) to find the language in cloth and clothes Marian Goodman Gallery (New York - Paris - London), Lia Rumma Gallery for what had become an opera. Luc de Wit, to find the orchestration of the (Naples - Milano), and The Goodman Gallery (Johannesburg - Cape Town). stage movements of the actors and musicians. And then an ancillary team of musicians, singers and organisers. Refuse the Hour is produced in the United States by THE OFFICE performing arts + film: Rachel Chanoff, Nadine Goellner, Laurie Cearley, Lynn Koek, Noah Until there was more team than project—and then the project filled the gaps. Bashevkin, Diane Eber. theofficearts.com —William Kentridge Funds for this performance provided by the Sally & William A. Rutter Endowment for the Performing Arts.