Margins: Walking Between Worlds (Part 3): William Kentridge

William Kentridge, Shadow Procession, 1999

"Shadow Procession works with the simple idea of cut and hinged paper figures moving across a back-lit surface to the jaunty soundtrack of What a friend we have in Jesus. But this is a procession that asks its participants to carry their possessions and to walk whether they are young, old, sick or lame. As figures move across the screen, head down reading the bible or newspapers, they walk with obedience and passivity. The ominous feeling that all is not as it seems quickens as the figures become weighed down by their ever increasing burdens, until they are not just carrying luggage:, but one is seen carrying a grand piano, another an entire city. Shadows from shadow puppets add to the sense of chaos and mass expulsion, while also reminding us of the presence of the puppeteer’s presence."

-- Jess Kenny, "William Kentridge: The Impossible is What Happens All the Time"

Walking Objects by Marco Rountree Cruz, 2011

Marco Rountree Cruz (b.1982) is from Mexico City. This excerpt is from an interview that happened after he made his installation at Art Exchange, University of Essex during his stay in England in November 2011.

Zanna Gilbert: You’ve just finished your installation for the exhibition Margins: Walking Between Worlds at Art Exchange. Can you tell me about the idea you had for the work?

Marco Rountree Cruz: It is hard to explain. All my life I have enjoyed walking, it is a very important part of my life actually. Since I was really young I collected trash from the streets and gave importance to the trash, not in a melancholic way, but a sweet feeling, about how an object is just left there on the street. Well, I live in a city, right and it is about how you can give importance to objects by taking them home and treating them like a decoration. When I came and saw the Tacita Dean and Aztec display, and the book there talking about mystic and shamanic stuff, I came with the idea of doing a mystic and shamanic necklace. Usually people hang special things and objects relating to religion on their necklaces. It has this spiritual context, but it is also an issue with fashion and aesthetics, which I really enjoy. I really like conceptual art but I also love decoration. It is funny the necklace thing because I’m also a huge fan of hip hop, remember Flavor Flav, that rapper from Public Enemy who used to hang huge objects like watches, from his necklaces?