William Kentridge "The Refusal of Time"

I visited Metropolitan Museum of Art in order to observe William Kentridge's exhibition "The Refusal of Time." The exhibition was located in a darkroom,Gallery 919, on the second floor. The whole installation consisted of five screens: one on the front of the room, two screens on each side. In the center of the room was a moving wooden piece that reminded me of two oil extraction machines put together. 

The video clips projected on each screen were very similar yet different. Sometimes the five screens could be seen as one large screen as a whole, but other times, each screen showed different scenes and stories. Each screen was as big as the projection screen at Parsons. In the beginning, the screens show five clocks (one on each screen) that moves at different rhythm. As the time proceeds, all clocks move at exponentially faster rate along with the intense, loud sound of whispering. Then, there is an old man who is trapped in enormous book pages: on each screen, he is doing different actions such as moving chairs, walking on top of chairs, reading the page, or just standing. Then, the screens show a room with a black woman and a man with each screen showing different storyline: some with happy ending, others without. The installation proceeds and shows a black empty space which gets filled up with white spots and lines that reminds the audience of Stars and space. Then, Kentridge shows an animation-like scene filled with black silhouettes, which seems to show progression through industrialization. Certain factors seem to repeat throughout Kentridge's video installation: black actors, old man, clocks, huge machineries, and an enormous book.

When I first entered William Kentridge's "The Refusal of Time" exhibition space, the installation had just begun. I felt overwhelmed by the large room painted black and the wooden sculpture piece that was located in the center of the room. I watched the video installation twice, the first time behind the wooden sculpture, and the second time in front of the main screen (the center one among fives screens) sitting down on a chair. I thought not only the visuals, but sound effects were excellent. Kentridge played with extreme sound volumes and rhythms that made me feel anxious and disturbed at some times in an effective way. William Kentridge challenged the concept of sequential time by using repetition and branching out technique. Instead of going with one storyline, he created alternate future scenarios on each scene. He also used repetition such as having an old man repeating the same action in a never-ending manner, not only visually, but also through sounds, to create a sense of being trapped in certain period of time.