William Kentridge

San Francisco Art Institute is pleased to anounce an exhibition of Kentridge's films, WEIGHING...and WANTING (1998) and Ubu Tells the Truth (1997), will be on view in SFAI's Walter and McBean Galleries from January 25 to March 25, 2006. An opening reception will take place January 25 from 5:30 to 7:30pm preceding the lecture.

Known internationally for his drawings, animated films, sculptures, installations, and stage work, Kentridge explores the history and post-apartheid political transformations of his native South Africa. Through his films—made by a process of constant modifications via erasures to charcoal drawings that are photographed in sequence and then projected as an animated picture—Kentridge goes beyond South African politics and ultimately addresses the human condition by exposing the nature of memory, emotion, and social conflict. Kentridge's works propose an incisive investigation to the way identities are forged and provide insights into changing notions of history and belonging.

Bill Berkson, the former head of SFAI's Visiting Artist Lecture Series, conceived of inviting Kentridge to the Art Institute as a McBean Lecturer after seeing his work at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA). "I had seen Kentridge's work a few years before at Document X; for me it was the discovery of the show," says Berkson. "His recent work continues to have technological invention, graphic power, and red hot subject matter; but it isn't limited by one political aspect. This is quite a rare opportunity having Kentridge come to the Art Institute as a McBean Distinguished Lecturer."

Born in Johannesburg in 1955, Kentridge continues to live and work there. His work first began gaining art world notoriety when in 1997 he was included in Documenta X in Kassel, Germany as well as in the Johannesburg and Havana Biennials. His first American solo exhibitions were at the Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego and the Drawing Center, New York in 1998. Kentridge graduated from the University of the Witwatersrand majoring in politics and African studies in 1976; he also studied at the Johannesburg Art Foundation where he later taught printmaking.

Kentridge is the fifth artist to be awarded the McBean Lectureship. Launched in 2000 by the Art Institute and the McBean Family Foundation, the McBean Distinguished Lectureship recognizes the importance of encounters between students and the great artists of our time. Past recipients of the McBean Lectureship include John Baldessari, Barbara Kruger, Adrian Piper, Robert Rauschenberg, and Rachel Whiteread. Speaking on behalf of the McBean Family Foundation, Judith McBean Casper has said, "We are pleased to support San Francisco Art Institute's efforts to develop ongoing programs that expose their students to the artists and ideas that are shaping the contemporary art world."

In honor of William Kentridge as the 2006 McBean Distinguished Lecturer, two films courtesy of the artist, WEIGHING...and WANTING (1998) and Ubu Tells the Truth (1997), will be screened continuously in the Walter and McBean Galleries from January 25 to March 25, 2006. WEIGHING…and WANTING will be screened in the intimate setting of the McBean Gallery while Ubu Tells the Truth will be screened in the Walter Gallery. SFAI Dean of Academic Affairs Okwui Enwezor who has worked extensively with Kentridge over the past decade will be writing the introduction to the exhibition catalogue.

In Kentridge’s WEIGHING…and WANTING, Soho Eckstein, a recurring fictional character who first appeared in Kentridge's work in 1989, is a white South African industrialist who has benefited from the apartheid and is now struggling to find his way—publicly and personally—in the new political climate. With the Johannesburg landscape as backdrop, Eckstein is torn between his desires on the one hand and a sense of ethics and responsibility on the other. His own internal landscape is represented by the brain scans he endures, which bring to light the story of his failed love affair.

Politics become more overt in Kentridge’s Ubu Tells the Truth. Based on Alfred Jarry’s 1896 Ubu Roi, a satire about a corrupt and cowardly character, Ubu Tells the Truth was first conceived as a puppet play and originally done in collaboration with the Handspring Puppet Company of Johannesburg. The film is characterized by violent episodes and an explosive soundtrack, inspired in part by testimony given during the hearings of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission set up by the South African government in 1995 to investigate human rights abuses during the apartheid era.

"Kentridge's McBean Lectureship and exhibition continues SFAI's long history of fostering the essential discussions about art and society," says President Chris Bratton. "Next year is the Institute's 135th anniversary; and, for generations, the Institute has been the center of an international creative community of students, artists, scholars, and leaders whose work and ideas have not only changed San Francisco and the region, but also the cultural life of the United States as a whole. Today, we continue to be a laboratory for investigating new forms, technologies, and, most important, new ideas."

Kentridge's McBean lecture is co-presented by SFMOMA, where he will also give a lecture on January 26 at 7:00pm. Kentridge's film Tide Table (2003) is on view in the contemporary art galleries on the Museum's fifth floor.

The McBean Distinguished Lectureship and Residency is endowed by a generous grant from the McBean Family Foundation.

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William Kentridge