2025 TPAC Select：William Kentridge-SIBYL

2025-04-11 - 2025-04-13

01.06 (Mon.) 12:00 ── 01.13(Mon.) 11:59 TPAC Member pre-sale
01.13 (Mon.) 12:00 Tickets can be purchased

“The fact that your fate would be known, but you couldn't know it.” by William Kentridge

The name Sibyl is not a single, ancient Greek prophetess but a collective voice, a haunting chorus uttered and layered by generations of female seers. Their frenzied lips gave voice to those “unadorned, unscented” truths—stark and piercing oracles that, aided by the gods, have reverberated through millennia.

In this work, ancient myth finds contemporary avatars in AI and algorithms, which herald immense advancements in human civilization while also evoking profound existential anxiety. Sibyl unfolds in two parts. The first segment begins with Kentridge's classic stop motion charcoal animation, The Moment Has Gone, accompanied by a score from renowned South African composer Kyle Shepherd. Combining vocals, piano, and projection, the animation portrays Soho Eckstein's journey through a city art museum and the desolate outskirts of abandoned mining sites. Witnessing the collapse of the museum and the persistent protests of lonely miners, the film reveals artistic creation, though futile, as a testament to the enduring struggle against the inevitable.

The piano and vocals from The Moment Has Gone carry on to the second segment, Waiting for the Sibyl. Inspired by the Cumaean Sibyl of Greek mythology, the story recalls a tradition where people wrote questions on oak leaves—questions such as “How long will I live?” or “Will I die of illness?”—and placed them outside the cave. The prophetess would inscribe their fates on other leaves and place them back among the pile. People, eager for answers, would rush to retrieve their fate. Yet, as they approached the cave, there was always a breeze scattering the leaves, leaving them unable to know which leaf was theirs or someone else’s.

Kentridge uses hand-painted backdrops to create a massive flipbook, where the sculptures, paintings, and even the performers’ bodies are projected. The pages, representing leaves, flutter as though stirred by the wind. On the page is written a cryptic word, “Fresh graves are everywhere.” Meanwhile, a South African dancer’s figure, evocative of charcoal sketches, moves fluidly across the pages. Her ink-like shadow resembles imprints as well as the burning embers of fate.

The predetermined fate in ancient myth becomes the new realities in modern technology. In the 21st century, Sibyl becomes a metaphor for algorithms, predicting our futures, health, lifespan, political leanings, and even creditworthiness. While humanity yearns to control its future, we must confront the unsettling truth: we are governed by the very “new gods” we’ve created. The tension of our era lies in the juxtaposition of our yearning for a humanized fate and the inescapable determinism of machines.

In May 2024, the Taipei Fine Arts Museum hosted a major solo exhibition of William Kentridge, showcasing nearly 90 works spanning four decades. Sibyl, an opera originally conceived in 2019, was also exhibited through objects and imagery. This highly anticipated opera will finally be presented in its entirety at the Taipei Performing Arts Center, offering audiences a profound experience that encapsulates the sweeping vision and comprehensive insight of this contemporary art master.

William Kentridge

William Kentridge (born Johannesburg, South Africa, 1955) is internationally acclaimed for his drawings, films, theatre and opera productions.

His method combines drawing, writing, film, performance, music, theatre, and collaborative practices to create works of art that are grounded in politics, science, literature and history, yet maintaining a space for contradiction and uncertainty.

Kentridge'swork has been seen in museums and galleries around the world since the 1990s, including the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Albertina Museum in Vienna, Musée du Louvre in Paris, Whitechapel Gallery in London, Louisiana Museum in Copenhagen, the Reina Sofia museum in Madrid, the Kunstmuseum in Basel, Zeitz MOCAA and the Norval Foundation in Cape Town and the Royal Academy of Arts in London. He has participated a number of times in Documenta in Kassel (2012, 2002,1997) and the Venice Biennale (2015, 2013, 2005, 1999 and 1993).

Opera productions include Mozart’s The Magic Flute, Shostakovich’s The Nose, and Alban Berg’s operas Lulu and Wozzeck, and have been seen at opera houses including the Metropolitan Opera in New York, La Scala in Milan, English National Opera in London, Opera de Lyon, Amsterdam opera, the Sydney Opera House and the Salzburg Festival.

Kentridge's theatrical productions, performed in theatres and at festivals across the globe include Refuse the Hour, Winterreise, Paper Music, The Head & the Load, Ursonate, Sibyl and The Great Yes, The Great No and in collaboration with the Handspring Puppet Company, Ubu & the Truth Commission, Faustus in Africa!, Il Ritorno d’Ulisse and Woyzeck on the Highveld.

In 2016 Kentridge founded the Centre for Less Good Idea in Johannesburg: a space for responsive thinking and making through experimental, collaborative and cross-disciplinary arts practices. The centre hosts an ongoing programme of workshops, public performances, and mentorship activities.

Kentridge is the recipient of honorary doctorates from several universities including Yale, London University and Columbia University. In 2010, he received the Kyoto Prize. In 2012, he was awarded the Commandeur dans l’ordre des Arts et des Lettres in France and he presented the Charles Eliot Norton Lectures at Harvard University. In 2015 he was appointed an Honorary Academician of the Royal Academy in London. In 2017, he received the Princesa de Asturias Award for the arts, and in 2018, the Antonio Feltrinelli International Prize. In 2019 he received the Praemium Imperiale award in painting in Tokyo. In 2021 he was made a Foreign Associate Member to the French Académie des Beaux Arts, Paris. In 2022 he was presented the Honour of the Order of the Star of Italy and in 2023 he received the Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in Opera for Sibyl in London.

His work can be found in the collections of Art Gallery of Western Australia (Perth), Art Institute of Chicago, Carnegie Museum of Art (New York), San Diego Museum of Art, Fondation Cartier (Paris), Zetiz MoCAA (Cape Town), Norval Foundation (Cape Town), LACMA (Los Angeles), Haus der Kunst (Munich), Sharjah Art Foundation, Mudam (Luxembourg), Musée d’Art Contemporain de Montreal, MoMA (New York), SF MoMA (San Francisco), Castello di Rivoli (Turin), Moderna Museet, Stockholm, MoCA (Los Angeles), Stedelijk Museum (Amsterdam), National Gallery of Victoria (Melbourne), Johannesburg Art Gallery, MAXXI (Rome), Louisiana Museum (Humlebaek,Denmark), National Gallery of Canada (Ottawa), National Museum of Modern Art (Kyoto), Israel Museum (Jerusalem), Inhotim Museum (Brumadinho, Brazil), Broad Art Foundation, Los Angeles, Centre Pompidou (Paris), Fondation Louis Vuitton (Paris), National Gallery of Australia (Canberra), Tate Modern (London), Sifang Art Museum (Nanjing), Kunsthalle Mannheim, Vehbi Koç Foundation (Istanbul), Luma Foundation (Arles), Museum of Fine Arts (Budapest), Fundació Sorigué (Lleida, Spain), Guggenheim (Abu Dhabi), Kunsthalle Praha (Prague) and Amorepacific Museum of Art (Seoul); as well as private collections worldwide.

Ticket Benefits

Member Pre-sale

Know more about TPAC member: https://lihi2.cc/VXTPV

2025.1.6 (Mon.) 12:00 ── 2025.1.13 (Mon.) 11:59 Member pre-sale

TPAC member - Devotee Player: 25% off
TPAC member - Trooper Player: Single ticket 15% off, 4 or more tickets 20% off, 10 or more tickets 25% off

2025.1.13 (Mon.) 12:00 Official launch of sales
Member Offers:

TPAC Member - Devotee Player: 15% off
TPAC Member - Trooper Player: Single ticket 15% off, 4 or more tickets 25% off, 10 or more tickets 30% off
TPAC Member -Rookie Player: 10% off

Other Discounts

【 Early Bird Discount 】

Anyone who purchases any TPAC Select ticket worth NT$1,200 (inclusive) or above can enjoy a 15% discount.

【 Cross-industry Benefits 】

Eslite Members: 8% off ticket purchase.
Cardholders of Taishin Bank, E. Sun Bank, and Taipei Fubon Bank: 8% off ticket purchase.

【 Group Ticket Discounts 】

20 or more tickets in a single order: 20% off.
50 or more tickets in a single order: 25% off.
100 or more tickets in a single order: 30% off.

【 Other Discounts 】

Disabled individuals and their necessary companions (limited to 1 person) enjoy 50% off (please present disability certificate at entry).
Senior citizens aged 65 and above enjoy 50% off (please present valid identification at entry).

Organizer

Taipei Performing Arts Center