Free Thinking- William Kentridge, Vivienne Koorland and Gavin Jantjes discuss South Africa and art.
Arts & Ideas
BBC
4.2 • 599 Ratings
🗓️ 27 October 2016
⏱️ 47 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Does art have to reflect politics and history in South Africa? Is it harder to make art now than it was in the past? As major exhibitions of South African art open in London and Edinburgh Philip Dodd discusses the challenges of creating a visual language for a country with the artists William Kentridge, Vivienne Koorland and Gavin Jantjes. Joining them is Professor Stephen Chan from London University's School of Oriental and African Studies, an expert on the country's recent history.
South Africa: the art of a nation runs at the British Museum from October 27th - 26th Feb 2017
William Kentridge and Vivienne Koorland: Conversations in letters and lines runs at Edinburgh's Fruitmarket Gallery 19 November 2016 – 19 February 2017 Vivienne Koorland's Soft Heart is at the Leyden gallery November 2nd -November 26 William Kentridge: Thick Time is at the Whitechapel Gallery in London 21 September 2016 – 15 January 2017
William Kentridge's production of Lulu is on at English National Opera from November 9th - 19th and is being broadcast on BBC Radio 3 in the New Year.
Producer: Zahid Warley.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome back to the home of the oxymoron. Evil genius. He asked the newspaper to print his obituary early so he'd enjoy it. That's like hiding at your own funeral. Yeah, a big, great gig. I'm Russell Kane. Join me to weigh in on whether the biggest players in history are more evil or genius. Becoming that rich, I'd say that is some level of genius. It also helps that it's a long time ago, right? |
| 0:23.3 | It's like the podcast version of telling your kids the ice cream van plays music when it's out of ice cream. |
| 0:28.8 | Listen to evil genius on BBC Sounds. |
| 0:32.0 | Welcome to the Arts and Ideas podcast from the Freethinking Team at the BBC. |
| 0:36.9 | Hello. If all nations are, by definition, imagined communities, |
| 0:42.4 | then South Africa is at least as complex to imagine as most, given its history and the diversity of its population. |
| 0:50.2 | South Africa and its art is the subject of this evening's programme, as the ANC Chief Whip asks that the ANC Executive resigns from power, |
| 1:00.0 | more corrupt than the apartheid regime is his rhetorical claim, and as the art of South Africa is the subject of exhibitions in London and in Edinburgh. |
| 1:10.0 | The British Museum hosts South Africa, |
| 1:12.7 | the Art of a Nation, whose oldest object is three million years old, and which moves from pre-19th |
| 1:18.9 | century wonders such as the Zamakomst panel to beaded necklaces, from anti-apartheid |
| 1:24.7 | badges to Mary Sibandes' contemporary sculptural installation, |
| 1:28.7 | where female figures cast from her own body encounter one another wrapped in blue and purple, |
| 1:34.5 | maids reimagined as superheroes. |
| 1:37.4 | A little to the east at the Whitechapel Gallery, William Kentridge has a one-person show, |
| 1:42.2 | and at Edinburgh's Fruit Market Gallery next month, |
| 1:45.4 | he shares the billing with Vivian Corland. |
| 1:48.3 | Both of these artists join me as does Gavin Yancez, |
| 1:51.6 | whose work is part of the British Museum exhibition, |
| 1:54.2 | and making up our party is Stephen Chan, Professor of Soas, |
| 1:58.3 | with a special interest in the history of South Africa. |
| 2:01.3 | We'll be exploring what the idea of the art of South Africa means, 20 and more years after the end of apartheid, |
... |
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