The Nose and other adventures

Last night The Husband and I went to the launch of William Kentridge's The Nose series of etchings, along with a newly published book on the series, at David Krut Bookstore at Arts on Main. The Nose is based on the Shostakovich opera by the same name, which follows a story of a nose which leaves a face and travels the world! You can read more about it here, and lucky New Yorkers can see the opera at the Lincoln this March. It was wonderful to hear Kenrtidge explain the art of etching and I even got him to sign a copy of the book.

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It turned out to be quite an eventful evening: on the way there we decided to avoid the traffic-jammed highway and go straight through the middle of town. Shortly after the decision was made our car (actually my mom's!) started flashing red lights and smoke. Not a good sign. Luckily a petrol station was in view, so ignoring warnings of potential explosions we cautiously made our way there.

Garages in downtown Jo'burg are not quite the same as those in the Northern suberbs. In 5 minutes we had 5 heads in our bonnet watching green liquid bubble and spray out of some thingymajig. After 40 minutes a homeless guy, in a leopard print, wide brimmed hat and black trench coat, who seemed to be incharge of the repair operations declared us good to go.To the sound of applause from the onlookers we rushed back to our apartment, changed cars and still made it to the book launch (albeit 40 minutes late)!