I am not me, the horse is not mine, 2008
Cockatoo Island is the largest island in Sydney Harbour and a short ferry ride from Circular Quay. It functioned as a former prison and naval dockyard and retains many remnants of its convict history. Many of the buildings on the Island have been nominated for World Heritage listing. In 2008, Cockatoo was used as an art venue for the 16th Sydney Biennale. The South African artist William Kentridge sited his project in one of the industrial buildings.
Today, his work ‘I am not me, the horse is not mine’ has returned to the Island to be seen by those who wish to revisit the exhibition installed in it’s original location. The piece is based on the absurdist short story called The Nose (1837) by Nikolai Gogol. The eight-channel video work plays with the origins and fragmentation of modernism and its subsequent crushing in Russia in the 1930s. The video projections, which fill an entire room, include text, music, animation and shadow play.
