Performing: Thamsanqa Jantjie One Thamsanqa Jantjie recently made his international breakthrough as a performance artist. His appearance as a sign language interpreter for US president Barack Obama at the Nelson Mandela memorial was covered by media networks worldwide. His performance was regarded as outstanding by many critics. Not only did he fool the security, standing next to the president of the United States. The signs he made up showed wit and timeless elegance. Later, he claimed the suffer from schizophrenia, making his personal artist's legend complete. Jantjie also stated that he saw angels coming down from the sky which distracted him from a proper translation. This probably refers to the art historical motif of divine inspiration. In any case, this career move is a lesson for all emergent artists.
The performance inspired plenty viewer comments on Youtube, of which we have selected a few.
"This genius has taken the world of trollage to a whole new level. "
---
"here is another philosopher! I think like that because you watch the world facts and you see what happens around the world. The facts that Africa is helpless for not other reason that the Africans. It is almost a scientific fact: wherever the Africans are, things are fucked up. No one here can name me a single example of a black nation that can sit together with any western power, white, and be compared to any of them in terms of development, economic, political stability and so on. Zero, nada, not even half. Upbringing? I think i can call this "observation" of simple facts. "
---
"this is real sign langauge!!! the interpretation is below!
"I have 15,000,000.00 (fifteen million) U.S. Dollars and I want you to assist me in distributing the money to charity organizations. I agree to reward you with part of the money for your assistance, kindness and participation in this Godly project. This might come to you as a surprise and the temptation to ignore it as unserious could come into your mind but please consider it a divine wish and accept it with a deep sense of humility."
---
"Mandella has been dead since the fucking 26th of June, why is all this shit going on now?"
The performance inspired plenty viewer comments on Youtube, of which we have selected a few.
"This genius has taken the world of trollage to a whole new level. "
---
"here is another philosopher! I think like that because you watch the world facts and you see what happens around the world. The facts that Africa is helpless for not other reason that the Africans. It is almost a scientific fact: wherever the Africans are, things are fucked up. No one here can name me a single example of a black nation that can sit together with any western power, white, and be compared to any of them in terms of development, economic, political stability and so on. Zero, nada, not even half. Upbringing? I think i can call this "observation" of simple facts. "
---
"this is real sign langauge!!! the interpretation is below!
"I have 15,000,000.00 (fifteen million) U.S. Dollars and I want you to assist me in distributing the money to charity organizations. I agree to reward you with part of the money for your assistance, kindness and participation in this Godly project. This might come to you as a surprise and the temptation to ignore it as unserious could come into your mind but please consider it a divine wish and accept it with a deep sense of humility."
---
"Mandella has been dead since the fucking 26th of June, why is all this shit going on now?"
RSS Feed
