Archive of Darkness:William Kentridge's Black Box/Chambre Noire

de Jong, Ferdinand (2018) Archive of Darkness:William Kentridge's Black Box/Chambre Noire. African Arts, 51 (1). pp. 10-23. ISSN 0001-9933

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Abstract

Situating itself in histories of cinema and installation art, William Kentridge's Black Box/Chambre Noire (2005) raises questions about screens, exhibition space, site-specificity and spectatorship. Through his timely intervention in a debate on Germany’s colonial past, Kentridge’s postcolonial art has contributed to the recognition and remembrance of a forgotten, colonial genocide. This article argues that, by transposing his signature technique of drawings for projection onto a new set of media, Kentridge explores how and what we can know through cinematic projection in the white cube. In particular, his metaphor of the illuminated shadow enables him to animate archival fragments as shadows and silhouettes. By creating a multi-directional archive, Black Box enables an affective engagement with the spectres of colonialism and provides a forum for the calibration of moral questions around reparation, reconciliation and forgiveness.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	archive,darkness,shadows,william kentridge,herero,holocaust,genocide,multidirectional memory,sdg 16 - peace, justice and strong institutions ,/dk/atira/pure/sustainabledevelopmentgoals/peace_justice_and_strong_institutions
Faculty \ School:	Faculty of Arts and Humanities > School of Art, Media and American Studies
UEA Research Groups:	Faculty of Arts and Humanities > Research Centres > Centre for African Art and Archaeology Faculty of Arts and Humanities > Research Groups > Art History and World Art Studies
Depositing User:	Pure Connector
Date Deposited:	19 Dec 2017 06:07
Last Modified:	25 Aug 2023 00:11
URI:	https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/65759
DOI:	10.1162/AFAR_a_00389

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