Three giant mechanical elephants open Taipei Arts Festival to crowds of 100,000

Three enormous mechanical elephants brought the 2026 Taipei Arts Festival to life on the streets of Shilin, drawing more than 100,000 local and international visitors, according to the Taipei Performing Arts Center.

The outdoor production, "The Elephants Are Coming," by French street-theater troupe Compagnie Oposito ran at the Taipei Performing Arts Center and along Keelung Road. The three elephants, each 4.5 meters high and 8 meters long, moved through the streets as bagpipes, drums and costumes evoking the five continents turned the neighborhood into an open-air theater.

Crowds had already filled the area before the performance began, waiting for the mechanical creatures to appear. Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an attended alongside representatives from 10 countries, including France, Germany, Hungary and Lithuania, and interacted with spectators.

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A band that seems impossible to perform together.

The Taipei Performing Arts Center said the production brought together French street theater and Taiwan's Sheng Sheng Theatre and Hsuan Yu Music Ensemble. The local groups rehearsed intensively with the French troupe for four days before joining the performance. Classical music, Breton folk melodies and forceful street percussion were combined for the event.

Jean-Raymond Jacob, the troupe's artistic director and director, described the collaboration as "a band that seems impossible to perform together." He said that in street theater, "listening" allows performers to draw from one another while retaining their own cultural identities, creating a new harmony. Police deployed more than 400 officers, while Taipei Metro added trains and strengthened passenger guidance at Shilin Station and Jiantan Station.

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Listening