Sammy Chien and Caroline MacCaull are the Co-Artistic Directors of Chimerik 似不像, a multi-award-winning interdisciplinary nonprofit arts organization consisting of artists from underrepresented groups (people of colour, LGBTQ2S+, Immigrants, Women in technology, Linguistic/Language minorities, neurodiverse people, Youth and next generation) from various age groups, backgrounds, levels of experience, and disciplines (film/video, new media, VJ, VR, projection & lighting design, experimental music, sound art, visual arts and contemporary dance/theatre performance). Chimerik 似不像 specializes in the audiovisual new media software Isadora and has collaborated on over 500 multi-disciplinary projects which have been exhibited internationally such as World Design Expo, Digital Arts Festival of Taipei, Lacking Sound Festival, New Form Festival, ISEA (International Symposium of Electronic Arts), Digital Carnival Festival, Taiwan Best Design 100, Tokyo Performing Arts Meeting (TPAM), PUSH international Performing Arts Festival, Vancouver New Music Festival. Dance/Theatre companies the company has worked with include: The Arts Club, Gateway Theatre, Stratford Festival, The Frank Theatre, Aeriosa, Beijing Modern Dance Company, Wen Wei Dance, Dancers of Damelahamid & Raven Spirit Dance. Chimerik 似不像 has worked with influential corporations such as NIKE, Microsoft, BenQ and Google in live visuals/projection design and interactive video installations, in addition to actively empowering underrepresented communities. Roshni Riar is the company’s new Creative Producer, who’s a Punjabi-Canadian poet, interdisciplinary artist and community organizer.
Awards: Chrystal Dance Prize 2023; the Changemaker Award of BC Museums Association 2022; Jessie Richardson Awards 2019, 2020 and 2021/2022.
Chimerik 似不像 initially emerged as an interdisciplinary collective idea in 2009, co-founded by Sammy Chien & Shang-Han Chien in Vancouver, BC. In 2011, Chimerik 似不像 was incorporated in Taiwan as a company until 2014 where the company transitioned to non-profit arts collective. For many years, Chimerik 似不像 functioned as arts collective with the primary base in Vancouver, BC, with a secondary base in Taipei, Taiwan with frequent international collaboration in cities such as Berlin, Germany. In 2023, Chimerik 似不像 incorporated as a BC-based non-profit organization in order to strength our impact in Canada and beyond.
Our mission is to create, engage and inspire works, platforms and activities that fosters interdisciplinary, intercultural and transnational collaborations through new media, digital technology, performance and multifaceted forms of art. We seek to empower underrepresented voices and intersectional identities to conjure, to resist, to queer and to rise above the status quo. With a focus on sourcing the creative energy from the state of gratitude, love and joy, we believe that each individual can expand our potential as a collective to have an energetic ripple effect to the sociopolitical, artistic and spiritual impact to humanity at large. Although we are one small part of the bigger picture, we are all interconnected invisibly across dimensions. Innovation and creativity is our job to expand, connect, inspire, grow and holistically move our culture and thinking forward.
Chimerik 似不像 has created live visuals/video design for wide ranges of musicians such as famous Taiwanese pop star Faith Yang 楊乃文, Jam Hsiao 蕭敬騰 & indie band Sunset Rollercoaster, hip hop artist Dwagie大支, Electronic music DJ such as Erol Alkan & Débruit, Hip Hop artists such as Shing02 & Substantial, heavy metal bands such as Aztland Underground. They’ve worked with Canadian musicians such as Tarun Nayar/Modern Biology, Ruby Singh/Vox.Infold, Kimmortal, PIQSIQ, Peregrine Falls, Lief Hall, Hard Rubber Orchestra and Orchid Ensemble. They’ve co-created an audiovisual project with influential Canadian indigenous writer, poet, activist and musician Leanne Betasamosake Simpson, selected in National Art Centre of Canada (NAC)’s Capsule program, various film festivals & nominated Summer Solstice Indigenous Music Awards. In Dance/Theatre, we’ve worked with The Arts Club, Gateway Theatre, Stratford Festival, Aeriosa, Fakeknot, Wen Wei Dance, MACHiNENOiSY, Karen Jamieson Dance, Dancers of Damelahamid & Raven Spirit Dance. Chimerik 似不像 has been nominated 3 Jessie Richardson Theatre Award and won two Outstanding Productions awards and Outstanding Innovative & Immersive Storytelling award in the theatre productions that they’re involved as New Media/Projection Design Team (productions: Camera Obscura, The Great Leap & Inheritance). Chimerik 似不像 has two official acknowledgements from the Richmond-Stevenston, BC MLA John Yap on the outstanding support of creative video projection for the Vancouver Spring Show 2017 & 2018 in contributing to artistic originality, excellence and multiculturalism, especially serving for the local Chinese-speaking community. During the pandemic, Chimerik 似不像 has partnered with the frank theatre company to adapt a large scale community driven theatre project (Diaspora) dedicated to queer, diaspora and racialized intersectional identity into a higher calibre professional online-virtual production (Be-Longing), with viewers from over 13 countries. They have also significantly supported organizations such as VanVogueJam and Festival of Recorded Movement to adapt their live events into online virtual events with dramatically successful outcomes. From 2021-2024, Chimerik 似不像 research and created a digital community project “Virtual Live Art Database” to share these success and learning, to demystify technology and reduce technical barriers for the performing arts community, presented in partnership with New Works and SummerWorks plus over dozens of community partners, curators, producers and independent artists across Canada.
Chimerik 似不像 has embarked upon regular training opportunities since 2017, providing internship and mentorship opportunities for BIPOC, queer, and/or female-identified, emerging artists and students. As of 2024, Chimerik 似不像 has provided over 26 internship, apprenticeship and mentorship positions. More than half of our interns and mentees continue to thrive in their artistic careers and many are currently contracted by Chimerik 似不像 for more arts related work. Co-Artistic Directors, Sammy Chien and Caroline MacCaull have given more than 50 workshops, panels, guest lecture in B.C. ranging from new media workshop to DTES communities, high school students to postgraduate & graduate students, as well as Equity, Diversity & Inclusion panels/talks for theatre organization such as The Greater Vancouver Professional Theatre Alliance (GVPTA), Associate Designers of Canada (ADC) and music organizations such as Vancouver Symphony Orchestra (VSO).
We have mentored and guest lectured at Simon Fraser University, Bachelor of Performing Arts program at Capilano University & Douglas College and at University of Southern California (USC)’s New Media and Dance class, National Theatre School's NTS DramaFest, National Ballet School, Tsinghua University 清華大学 (Beijing, China) and Kun Shan University 崑山科技大學 (Tainan, Taiwan)
-the 2023/2024 Chrystal Dance Prize. -the Changemaker Award of BC Museums Association 2022 for creative engagements that increase awareness of underrepresented voices
-Jessie Richardson Awards 2019, 2020 and 2021/2022.