An Elephant in the Room

An Elephant in the Room

Public preview of William Kentridge’s ‘The Refusal of Time’ at City Gallery Tuatara Open Late, Thursday 4 September, 5-10pm

Wellingtonians are in for a treat - City Gallery’s Tuatara Open Late will premiere William Kentridge’s mesmerising work The Refusal of Time. This spectacular five-channel video installation was the hit of Documenta 13 and was recently shown at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art.

It combines film, theatre, dance, and music all seemingly directed by a breathing, accordion-like sculpture in the middle of the room known as ‘The Elephant’.

The public preview begins at 5pm and to mark the occasion visitors will be greeted with a complimentary glass of bubbles or Six Barrel Soda. At 6.30pm, Sabine Theunissen, Jonas Lundquist and Gavan Eckhart, three key members of Kentridge's team, will talk about their experiences collaborating with him and installing his work.

This is the New Zealand premiere of The Refusal of Time and the first time such a significant Kentridge work has ever been exhibited here. A collaboration with South African filmmaker Catherine Meyburgh, composer Philip Miller and science historian Peter Galison, it features dancer Dada Masilo. The Refusal of Time calls upon a kaleidoscope of references to address our fraught relation to notions of time.

Following the talk there will be two screenings of Kentridge’s Drawings for Projections (75 min) at 7.30 & 8.45pm. Made up of ten short films which chart South Africa’s transition from apartheid to democracy, Drawings for Projections feature his signature drawing techniques.

The evening also features a cash bar serving Tuatara beer and Seresin wines along with supper treats, some with a South African flare, from our friends at The Fire Truck. Upstairs, enjoy one of New Zealand’s best DJs, B.Lo.

September Tuatara Open Late: Preview of William Kentridge’s The Refusal of Time

Thursday 4 September, 5 – 10pm |Entry by Koha

City Gallery Wellington, Civic Square www.citygallery.org.nz

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