Draft v1
Chimerik 似不像’s mandate is to create, engage, and inspire works, platforms, and activities that foster interdisciplinary, intercultural, and transnational collaborations through new media, digital technology, performance, and multifaceted forms of art. Rooted in the unceded ancestral territories of the Coast Salish peoples—Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), and səl̓ílwətaʔɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations, known as Vancouver, BC—our work spans local, national, and international platforms. We aim to empower underrepresented voices and intersectional identities to challenge and transcend the status quo, creating opportunities for meaningful dialogue, artistic innovation, and cultural resilience. 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 believes in the transformative power of interdisciplinary art and technology as tools for innovation, inclusion, and social impact. Our mission is to create, engage, and inspire through platforms that foster collaborations across diverse cultures, disciplines, and perspectives. With a strong foundation in movement and dance, we integrate somatic practices and contemporary performance into our work, exploring the unique language of the body as a powerful tool for storytelling and connection. We delve into themes such as identity, mental health, spirituality, and environmental sustainability, while empowering underrepresented voices and intersectional identities to challenge and rise above societal norms. Harnessing cutting-edge technologies like virtual reality, interactive projection, and real-time AI, we craft immersive and responsive environments that expand collective potential. Through gratitude, joy, and love as creative energies, we seek to holistically advance culture, art, and thought, offering experiences that foster empathy, connection, and meaningful change. We also produce interplay_, an annual festival dedicated to live, collaborative, and multidisciplinary performance, with a recent emphasis on live online art and technology.
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 a grassroots 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.
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.