William Kentridge brings interdisciplinary performances to GS Arts Center

A scene from William Kentridge's chamber opera, "Sybil" / Courtesy of Stella Olivier

As part of its opening festival, GS Arts Center will spotlight the work of South African interdisciplinary artist William Kentridge, reflecting the center’s mission to highlight artists who blur the lines between genres.

Kentridge visited Korea to present two of his acclaimed works — "Sybil" and "Oh to Believe in Another World: Shostakovich 10" — this month.

“It’s a pleasure to be back in Korea,” he said during a press conference at GS Tower in southern Seoul, Wednesday.

Known for blending genres and challenging artistic boundaries, Kentridge emphasized that his creative process is less about delivering answers and more about asking questions — whether it is music, theater or visual art.

“I think we are in a very strange world,” Kentridge said when asked how shifting global affairs influence his work.

“I don't quite understand the details of the immediate politics in South Korea, but I know that there's been a lot of crises and transformations and questions recently here. The state of martial law and the impeachment of President [Yoon Suk Yeol] — it’s a complicated situation. And obviously in the United States, it's a crazy circumstance."

This weekend's program includes "Sybil," a contemporary chamber opera that blends music, dance, theater and poetry to explore themes of life, uncertainty and death. The performance consists of two parts, telling the story of South African miners in the first act, "The Moment Has Gone," and a Greek prophetess named Sybil in the second act, "Waiting for Sibyl."

"Oh to Believe in Another World," scheduled for May 30, is a performance of Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 10, accompanied by Kentridge’s video work reflecting on dictatorship and the Soviet Union, where the composer was born. The performance will be led by Roderick Cox, a trailblazing African American conductor known for challenging norms in the classical music world.

"In the film we see all the political world of the era. We have Lenin, the founder of the Russian revolution; Stalin, Trotsky, composer Shostakovitch and the great poet Mayakovsky," Kentridge explained.

Artist William Kentridge speaks during a press conference in Seoul, Wednesday. Courtesy of GS Arts Center

Born to a Jewish family in Johannesburg, Kentridge was the son of human rights lawyers who worked during the apartheid era. His observation of the contrast between white privilege and systemic discrimination has shaped the themes throughout his work.

Though he showed artistic talent from an early age — taking charcoal drawing lessons at around age eight — Kentridge didn’t initially pursue art full-time. He studied Politics and African Studies at the University of the Witwatersrand, followed by Fine Arts at the Johannesburg Art Foundation. He also trained in mime and theater in Paris with aspirations of becoming an actor.

In the 1980s, Kentridge focused on prints and charcoal and pastel drawings. In the 1990s and early 2000s, he began creating animated films using stop-motion techniques with charcoal drawings. His distinctive method — drawing, erasing, and redrawing on the same surface — adds a sense of movement and layered meaning to his work, and it has come to define him as an artist.

His work, known for its political messages and innovative techniques, has secured his place as one of South Africa’s most important contemporary artists.

Previously, the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea hosted the "William Kentridge: Peripheral Thinking" exhibition in 2015, and he staged "The Return of Ulysses" at the Asia Culture Center in Gwangju in 2016.

For tickets and more information, visit the GS Arts Center website.