COMPANY CURRICULUM VITAE
BASED Vancouver, British Columbia / Taipei, Taiwan
ARTISTIC DIRECTION Sammy and Caroline Chien-MacCaull, Co-Artistic Directors
CONTACT chimerik.com · [email protected] · Instagram @chimerikco
COMPANY PROFILE
Chimerik is a multi-award-winning interdisciplinary nonprofit arts organization centering underrepresented voices. They specialize in the intersection of dance, technology and spirituality, with over 500 multi-disciplinary projects presented internationally in various festivals and presentation houses including Venice Biennale, Documenta 15, World Design Expo, ISEA (International Symposium on Electronic/Emerging Art), TPAM (Tokyo Performing Arts Meeting), Ballo Pubblico Festival (Italy), LAIKS DEJOT (Latvia), Experimental Dance Festival Aotearoa, Festival of Augmented Dance (Finland), Vancouver International Dance Festival, PuSh International Performing Arts Festival, Vancouver Art Gallery, among others and have worked with corporations such as Microsoft, BenQ and Google. Their contribution to sectoral change includes projects such as Virtual Live Art Database and TvT International Choreographic Interlink. They are Associate Artists at SummerWorks Performance Festival, Co-Founders/Co-Curators of Unity Consciousness Arts Festival and Co-Directors of interplay_ festival. Awards include the 2023 Chrystal Dance Prize, BC Museums Association's 2022 Changemaker Award, and Jessie Richardson Awards. Chimerik 似不像 is currently represented by Aaron Fernandes Entertainment.
ARTISTIC LEADERSHIP
Sammy Chien-MacCaull — Co-Founder and Co-Artistic Director; interdisciplinary media/performance artist, choreographer, new media designer, sound artist, filmmaker, educator and curator. Sammy holds a BFA in Film (Honours) from Simon Fraser University (2011) and has been an officially selected Isadora mentor/instructor by Isadora creator Mark Coniglio since 2016. Their practice connects body, spirit and technology through works including W(e)aves, Ritual-Spective, We Were One, Inner Sublimity and SI(x), alongside extensive projection and media design for dance, theatre, music and underground events.
Caroline Chien-MacCaull — Co-Artistic Director since 2024; experimental movement practitioner, choreographer, interdisciplinary and new media artist, curator and dramaturg. She joined Chimerik in 2020 and progressed from collective member to artistic associate and Associate Artistic Director. Her research in dance-technology, VR, accessibility, spirituality and intermedial choreography includes 003_playback, Orbiting Realizations, SI(x), Inner Sublimity, Soul Speaking and 5.fulless.
CURRENT TOURING AND DEVELOPMENT PRODUCTIONS:
Veil \ Reveal | premiere planned 2028 — Chimerik's first large-scale creation is planned to premiere in Vancouver in 2028. Featuring a mixed national and international cast, the work brings ritual, performance and advanced interactive technology into a significant new scale of creation. Chimerik is developing residency, commissioning and touring pathways, with early conversations underway with national and international presenters.
Inner Sublimity | touring — Dance-technology duet created and performed by Sammy and Caroline Chien-MacCaull. A meditative ritual unfolds through somatic movement, experimental sound and interactive projections, bridging Eastern and Western approaches to spirituality, mortality, cultural memory and communion. Winner of Dance Victoria's 2023/24 Chrystal Dance Prize. European work-in-progress presentations at LAIKS DEJOT (Riga), Ballo Pubblico Festival (Poggibonsi) and Venice Art Night, a collateral event of the Venice Biennale Arte 2024; world premiere co-presented by Vancouver Art Gallery and PuSh Festival in February 2025; upcoming presentation, workshop and artist panel at Experimental Dance Festival Aotearoa in December 2026.
SI(x) | touring — Dance-technology work co-created and performed by Sammy and Caroline Chien-MacCaull. Developed through research into movement, interactive systems and augmented performance; platform showing at Dance in Vancouver in November 2024 and world premiere at Vancouver International Dance Festival in 2026. Upcoming presentations include the Oulu Festival of Augmented Dance, part of Oulu European Capital of Culture 2026, in November 2026, and SummerWorks Performance Festival in Toronto in August 2027.
We Were One | in development — Co-created by Sammy and Caroline Chien-MacCaull, this performance research explores relation, embodiment and technology. Development and presentations include Co.ERASGA Studio Salon Series (2021), Shadbolt Centre for the Arts (2022), K.format during Documenta 15 in Kassel (2022), PuSh Festival Industry Series Pitch (2023) and DanceLAB at The Dance Centre (2023).
Ritual-Spective / RE:turning | media arts installation — An intergenerational and transnational media arts project weaving traditional painting, ritual and ancestral/cultural memory with digital media. Past research presentations includes: Theatre Passe Muraille, Morrow, the Vancouver Convention Centre (2021), Powell Street Festival (2021), Vancouver Art Gallery ART PARTY (2024), Coquitlam Heritage Society (2024) and Heart of the City Festival at Chimerik Chinatown Art Space (2024).
Soul Speaking | in development — New media and documentary-film research co-created by Sammy and Caroline Chien-MacCaull. The project explores spirituality, mediumship, mental health, ancestry and Eastern/Western knowledge systems through an embodied and culturally specific lens. Research including residency at Leña Artist Research and Residency Centre, Galiano Island, in August 2024 and researching with influential mediums in Taiwan; supported by Canada Council for the Arts and BC Arts Council.
5.fulless | performance / exhibition — Co-created by Caroline Chien-MacCaull and Jasmine Liaw and produced by Chimerik. A dance/new media collaboration presented as a performance and exhibition at Charles Street Video, Toronto (August 2023), and through interplay_2023 (September 2023).
Digital Platform and Field-Building Project
Virtual Live Art Database — A multi-year research and knowledge-sharing initiative developed from 2021 to 2024 to document virtual live performance practices, demystify technology and reduce technical barriers for artists and presenters. Public activities include the New Works launch in Vancouver (May 2024), SummerWorks (August 2024) and Far Far Away Lifestyle Festival in Hengchun, Taiwan (October 2025).