Step inside the roving creative imagination of William Kentridge with this exclusive nine-part series. An ode to procrastination, pacing, and messy desks, this playful first episode sees the South African artist invoke a doppelgänger with whom to squabble over the intangible seeds of inspiration.
As the pandemic rages, Kentridge turns his mind to the human body. Employing the techniques of early cinema—and a Marx Brothers mirror gag—Episode 2 is alive with Méliès magic, as figures dance across blackboards and notebooks for a sprightly discourse on selfhood and corporeal representation.
Episode 3 finds Kentridge in a reflective mood, wrestling with the fickle nature of memory, time, and space. The recollection of a scenic painting in his grandparents’ home sparks a masterclass in vanishing points, and the suggestion that a satisfying landscape is simply a matter of perspective.
As the doppelgängers ponder the optimism that exists between the tip of a pencil and the pad beneath, the impossible question of endings arises. “Why don’t we just stop?” they muse. Enter a deus ex machina and an expression of pure joy—an exultant procession through the studio and into the streets.
A dialogue on Greek mythology introduces Kentridge’s work as a theater practitioner, as Episode 4 captures rehearsals for his collaborative chamber opera, Waiting for the Sibyl. It’s a swirling analog meditation on mortality, fate, and uncertainty—poignant materials for a time of sickness and war.
