William Kentridge’s “The Refusal of Time” and the Philosopher’s Twin

7th October 2017Minus Plato TodaydOCUMENTA (13), Peter L. Galison, Plato, Platonic Objects, Tempus Refugit, The Refusal of Time, William KentridgeMinus Plato

I first encountered the installation The Refusal of Time by South African artist William Kentridge (b. 1955) in the pages of Enrique Vila-Matas’ The Illogic of Kassel – a fictional account of dOCUMENTA (13) back in 2012. While I have not seen the work in person, I have just read the publication produced for that […]

On Three Separate Occasions: Triangles and Trauma in William Kentridge’s Triptychs

10th May 2017Minus Plato Today, William Kentridge, Xenocratesapartheid, daemons, demonology, trauma, triangles, William Kentridge, XenocratesMinus Plato

Xenocrates (396-313 BCE) was the third head of the Platonic Academy. He studied with Plato and had traveled with him to Sicily. He is most well known for developing, from Plato’s texts (e.g. the Symposium) and teachings, a theory of demons. Writing centuries later, Plutarch tells us how Xenocrates used to teach his theory of […]