9780197749234_

Opera has long been known for its ability to be used as a tool for colonial expression. But it is increasingly used to narrate histories of colonial trauma, oppression, and struggle. What does it mean for a colonial form to represent the experiences of those it used to exclude and undermine? How can opera adapt to meet the challenges of ethical representation and reparation? In response to these questions, Postcolonial Opera: William Kentridge and the Unbounded Work of Art examines the social and political role of opera in the postcolony. Taking the multimedia operatic experiments of William Kentridge, South Africas most celebrated contemporary visual artist, as a starting point, author Juliana M. Pistorius investigates contemporary operas potential to process the troubled histories that haunt post- and decolonial societies. Centered around the critical-theoretical themes of return, confession, mourning, time, displacement, and totality, the book considers Kentridges productions for puppets (Il Ritorno dUlisse, 1998; Confessions of Zeno, 2002), his operatic installation for a miniature automated theatre (Black Box/Chambre Noire, 2005), his chamber work for performers and machines (Refuse the Hour, 2012), and his processional operas (Triumphs and Laments, 2016; The Head & the Load, 2018). Pistorius argues that the artists newly conceived operatic form, built on ideas of unboundedness rather than totality or formlessness, offers opportunities to engage anew with questions of race, coloniality, and cultural belonging in the postcolony. While Kentridges pieces take the artists responsibility to deal with the genres colonial past seriously, she shows how they also offer humor, beauty, and catalytic opportunities to reimagine the form and function of opera in the postcolonial present. Postcolonial Opera intervenes in contemporary debates about operas relevance and contributes to the growing study of the art forms relationship with race and coloniality. Ultimately, Pistorius argues that Kentridges multimedia experiments--at once local and global--present compelling perspectives on the contradictions and compromises of the genres position in the postcolony.

...(*_*)9780197749234_

Opera has long been known for its ability to be used as a tool for colonial expression. But it is increasingly used to narrate histories of colonial trauma, oppression, and struggle. What does it mean for a colonial form to represent the experiences of those it used to exclude and undermine? How can opera adapt to meet the challenges of ethical representation and reparation? In response to these questions, Postcolonial Opera: William Kentridge and the Unbounded Work of Art examines the social and political role of opera in the postcolony. Taking the multimedia operatic experiments of William Kentridge, South Africa's most celebrated contemporary visual artist, as a starting point, author Juliana M. Pistorius investigates contemporary opera's potential to process the troubled histories that haunt post- and decolonial societies. Centered around the critical-theoretical themes of return, confession, mourning, time, displacement, and totality, the book considers Kentridge's productions for puppets (Il Ritorno d'Ulisse, 1998; Confessions of Zeno, 2002), his operatic installation for a miniature automated theatre (Black Box/Chambre Noire, 2005), his chamber work for performers and machines (Refuse the Hour, 2012), and his 'processional operas' (Triumphs and Laments, 2016; The Head & the Load, 2018). Pistorius argues that the artist's newly conceived operatic form, built on ideas of unboundedness rather than totality or formlessness, offers opportunities to engage anew with questions of race, coloniality, and cultural belonging in the postcolony. While Kentridge's pieces take the artist's responsibility to deal with the genre's colonial past seriously, she shows how they also offer humor, beauty, and catalytic opportunities to reimagine the form and function of opera in the postcolonial present. Postcolonial Opera intervenes in contemporary debates about opera's relevance and contributes to the growing study of the art form's relationship with race and coloniality. Ultimately, Pistorius argues that Kentridge's multimedia experiments--at once local and global--present compelling perspectives on the contradictions and compromises of the genre's position in the postcolony.

Postcolonial Opera

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