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Guided tours in museums intend to give visitors a closer understanding of the art work. On the other hand, every text explaining a work of art automatically places it in the past, immobilizes it, silences it. In this performance developed by William Kentridge and soprano Joanna Dudley, they work against the museification of art works. The performance “A Guided Tour of the Exhibition: For Soprano with Handbag” allows the pictures to defend themselves and to resist interpretations. It is both an accompanying programme to the exhibition and its refutation. The opposite of a classic guided tour, this is a moment of pure poetic pleasure that puts artworks against interpretation as part of a theatrical mise-en-scène.
Site specific performance for museums or theatres with film and art objects
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The libretto was first assembled by William Kentridge in a distinctly Dadaist manner, drawing on fragments from his studio notebooks and various other materials.
William Kentridge provided Joanna Dudley with the libretto as the foundation for The Guided Tour. From there, Dudley improvised using the text, reshaping and recomposing its material. Together, Kentridge and Dudley developed the vocal improvisations and crafted choreography for each film and each installation. The libretto also weaves in other sources, including a lullaby from Swaziland, a love song from Marseille, writings by Russian absurdist poet Daniil Kharms, and excerpts from Georg Büchner’s Woyzeck.
A Guided Tour of the Exhibition: For Soprano and Handbag frees the artworks from fixed interpretation, allowing them to resist and challenge conventional readings. The performance functions both as a companion to the exhibition and as a spirited rejection of traditional modes of art presentation, inviting audiences to encounter the works in their most animated and expressive state.
2023 CalPerformances, Berkeley (CA, USA)
2021 Red Bridge Project, MUDAM Museum, (Luxembourg, LU)
2017 Fondation Louis Vuitton (Paris, FR) | Print Room (London, UK) | Louisiana Museum (Copenhagen, DE)
2016 Berliner Festspiele / Foreign Affairs (Berlin, GE) | White Chapel Gallery (London, UK)
TEAM
Conception: William Kentridge, Joanna Dudley
Vocal Construction, Choreography, Performance: Joanna Dudley
Video Designer & Editor: Žana Marović
Costume: Greta Goiris
