With their performance _Ubu Never Loved Us_, The Brother Moves On react to the lack of an effective offer of reconciliation by the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) which has left a deep sense of trauma in South African society. Renamed the ‘Total Refreshment Centre’ within the performance, the TRC is portrayed as a feel-good area with no capacity to provide any real resolution. The work also mediates on Alfred Jarry’s Ubu Roi as ‘the ghost inside the machine’ – a cathartic allegory which haunts white South African’s imaginings of their history. The performance takes the form of a long table dinner with Mr Gold’s fat ghost and The Black Diamond Butterfly as the hosts. Cushions, a masseuse, ice cream and drinks are available for the audience, who are invited to join the table. An orchestra, conducted by The Brother Moves On’s bassist Ayanda Zalekile, accompanies the performance. Ubu Never Loved Us was originally commissioned for Berliner Festspiele’s Foreign Affairs Festival which this year honors William Kentridge. The performance took place at the opening of the exhibition New Revolutions at Goodman Gallery Johannesburg.
