MOCA Pacific Design Center
William Kentridge: 7 Fragments for Georges Méliès celebrated the donation of the titular work to the museum’s permanent collection by MOCA Trustee Michael Sandler and his wife, Brenda Potter. These seven video projections fuse theater, cinema, music, and works on paper and depict the artist in a series of amusing interactions with his own drawings. Made by compiling footage from a 16mm film camera and a 35mm animation camera, the fragments include Auto-Didact, Balancing Act, Feats if Prestidigitation, Invisible Mending, Moveable Assets, Tabula Rasa I, and Tabula Rasa II, with drawings in a constant state of flux and still-visible, but erased marks further texturing the film. The fragments pay homage to the French cinematographer and illusionist George Méliès and are dually inspired by Bruce Nauman’s early films of himself in his studio and Kentridge’s personal love of magic tricks.
Two additional film works were included in the exhibition: Journey to the Moon (2003), which reused imagery and props from 7 Fragments; and Day for Night (2003), referencing François Truffaut’s 1973 film of the same name.