Notes

‘Mao’s disastrous Great Leap Forward campaign was the precursor of the Cultural Revolution, and both failed utopias are embraced in Kentridge’s work. The sparrow cull during the Four Pests campaign as part of the Great Leap Forward caused locust to proliferate and destroy harvests, leading to a huge decrease in food production and contributing to the famine that led to the death of an estimated 35–45 million Chinese people. In Notes Towards a Model Opera, Kentridge superimposes sparrows in unceasing flight onto pages of the Shuowen Jiezi, a dictionary from the second century. The urgent tapping in the background evokes the banging of pots and pans by ordinary Chinese citizens to prevent the sparrows from landing, which ensured that sparrows that were not shot got no rest and eventually died from stress and exhaustion.’

Azu Nwagbogu (2022) William Kentridge on Failed Utopias and Transcending Borders: ‘Art Must Defend the Uncertain’, Wallpaper.