Sammy Chien gives father's art multimedia new life in Ritual-Spective, February 22
The Taiwanese-Canadian artist digitally remixes paintings with experimental music and more
Jackson Chien’s painting of the Taipei skyline
A digital image from Ritual-Spective
Sammy Chien and Chimerik 似不像 present Ritual-Spective at 8 pm via Zoom and Youtube Live
VANCOUVER-BASED MULTIMEDIA trailblazer Sammy Chien spent a lot of time reconnecting with his parents in the early months of the pandemic. And now, in a new project that sees its soft launch Monday, he uses new technologies to transform and respond to artworks from more than 50 years by his Taiwanese father Jackson Chien.
The launch also marks his artist father’s 70th birthday.
The new-media installation, called Ritual-Spective 迴融, is created as a sort of ritual to honour his father. Led by Sammy Chien with artists from Chimerik 似不像, the work creates an intergenerational dialogue on artistic, cultural and spiritual legacy by exploring the artworks of the artist’s father as a ritual of what Chien describes as honouring the past, by listening, learning, and recasting those ideas into new art. It’s an interdisciplinary act of gratitude that touches on migration, the sacrifices of immigrant parents, and the legacy of culture they pass on to their children.
The livestream will include an introduction of the project, alongside real-time interactive media with audiences, experimental music and sound, poetry and text, digital mashups and remixing of paintings, and much more.
Participating artists include Yun-Jou Chang, Nancy Lee, Nita Bowerman, Kanon Hewitt, Shang-Han Chien, Gonu Kim, Andy Lee, Jonathan Kim, Caroline MacCaull, Lam Wong, Ambiel Liu, Regina Zhang, Neemay Li , and more.
Chien cofounded and is artistic director at the Chimerik似不像 collectiv, which has created large-scale new media performance projects in Asia, including events like the Taichung Light Festival and Taipei World Design Expo.
Watch for the full project to premiere at the end of 2021.
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