CAN Festival 2021 Announces Programme Update

CAN Festival 2021, Chinese Arts Now's annual festival of work by British East and South East Asian artists, opens on 15 February, three days after Chinese New Year. New exhibitions, music, screenings, performance, comedy and cabaret nights will be coming from venues across London including Two Temple Place, Soho Theatre, Rich Mix and Little Angel Theatre.

An-Ting Chang, director of Chinese Arts Now and the CAN Festival says:

"People have suggested that I cancel this year's CAN Festival but for me it is more important than ever to keep the Festival running. The pandemic has highlighted the division between rich and poor, between different nations and cultures. East Asians particularly are in a very controversial position where the world seems to monitor but not understand them. CAN wants to tell a broad range of diverse contemporary Chinese stories and this year's Festival presents work from more than 60 leading British East and South East Asian artists. It is essential that we remember why we are here, that we carry on making art, and stay connected with the public and our community of artists."

In 2020 Chinese Arts Now commissioned six digital works in response to the pandemic. The first five, by artists Pamela Carter, Jasmin Kent Rodgman, Eelyn Lee, Seph Li and Naomi Sumner Chan, will be available on the CAN website from 15 February.

The sixth commission by Tobi Poster-Su will premiere on 16 February. Chang and Eng and Me (and Me) is a film which explores ideas of identity, privilege and the contemporary freak though the extraordinary story of Chang and Eng Bunker, the original 'Siamese' twins. Born in Thailand, the co-joined twins emigrated to the US where they became a popular fixture in travelling freak shows. Theatre-maker Poster-Su tells their story using puppetry and split-screen, weaving in reflections of his own life.

From 19 February to 21 March, CAN is collaborating with a new Festival partner Two Temple Place as part of an expanding cultural and community programme at the venue.

Gaming technology meets the arts in an innovative 3D experience of a new exhibition and associated performances which explore the historical and contemporary context of Two Temple Place. CAN is pioneering the use of digital technology to combat the current lack of live work and create an arts experience designed for, and experienced through, a digital world.

Originally meant to be live, now visitors can walk through a virtual Two Temple Place and see beautiful and thought-provoking works by artists Chloe Wing, Donald Shek, Jack Tan and Jasmin Kent-Rodgman accompanied by original music and spoken text.

This world has been created by Christine Urquhart using the Unity platform. Unity's real-time 3D development platform lets artists, designers and developers work together to create immersive and interactive experiences. It's used in many popular games and by architects when creating digital architecture environments.

Stay Connected is a new festival strand gathering artists from the 2019 and 2020 Festivals (who are not in the 2021 edition) and offering them a platform to share their work with Festival audiences. 30 artists have been offered small commissions to either create new work, share existing work or even work in development. Stay Connected artists will also run artists' networking events during the festival.

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