This summer 2024, LIFT (The London Festival of International Theatre) will feature a new work titled "Bat Night Market," centred around the theme of bat species. The content of this program depicts a futuristic Taiwanese night market that arises in the context of global climate and environmental changes. "Bat Night Market" is a collaborative commissioned work by the London International Festival of Theatre and the Taipei Performing Arts Center (TPAC). It is co-created by Taiwanese artist Ku Kuang-Yi and British artist Robert Charles Johnson. The project also engages several London-based designers and performers, BAO London, 、Wheelcake Island, students from Guildhall School of Music and some of the country's leading researchers from King's College London.

The project has been generously supported by the Ministry of Culture Taiwan; the British Council’s International Collaboration Grants and the ARTWAVE project of the National Culture and Arts Foundation (NCAF) Taiwan; Cockayne Grants for the Arts & The London Community Foundation (LCF),After two years of cross-national research and conceptualisation by the artists and their international creative partners from Taiwan, the Netherlands, and the UK, the work will have its world premiere in London from June 10 to 15.

According to the artists’ explanation, this piece examines the necessity of bats in the global ecosystem, exploring the scientific, technological, and cultural controversies related to bats, and highlighting the urgent need to protect key species. The work takes inspiration from Southeast Asian night markets, Asian wild seafood markets, and Asian food stalls in Western markets as its starting point, transforming these forms into a "future night market." This market serves as an interpretation of "Asian Futurism," addressing issues of food-related racism and the vanishing Asian culinary culture.
The piece combines digital technology, dynamic imagery, interactive interfaces, and elements of biotechnology to create a new type of "market." During the performance, the audience will enter a sensory carnival experience, immersing themselves in an imagined night market where bats have gone extinct. They will explore the forms of cross-species wisdom and creative food production solutions in the near future when facing the crises caused by climate change. By integrating performing arts, science, and speculative design, the work invites the audience to gradually understand the mysterious species of bats through discussions, games, and food tasting (all vegan), providing a comprehensive sensory experience.

After two years of discussions with LIFT, the Cultural Division at the Taipei Representative Office in the UK is participating in this year's (2024) festival to support the global premiere of "Bat Night Market" in London. Over the past two years, "Bat Night Market" has undergone three staged presentations in Taiwan and the UK. These include the 2022 "Bat Feast Lab" at the National Taiwan Science Education Centre, the 2023 "Bat Brunch Lab" at the Science Gallery of King's College London, and the 2023 "Bat Banquet—Work in Progress Part 3" in Taipei. The final complete work will have its world premiere at the London International Festival of Theatre this June, followed by a performance at the Taipei Arts Festival in August.

The Director of the Cultural Division, Dr Chen Pin-Chuan, stated that LIFT is indeed a significant platform for performing arts in the UK. In addition to traditional theatrical performances, the festival has increasingly focused on cross-disciplinary and concept-challenging works in recent years. The opportunity for Taiwanese artist Ku Kuang-Yi and his multinational creative partners to receive an international commission and premiere at this festival will surely attract the attention of professionals and audiences alike. Additionally, he hopes that through the platform provided by the London International Festival of Theatre, "Bat Night Market" will be invited to tour worldwide, showcasing the diverse perspectives of Taiwanese artists through cross-disciplinary creation and engagement with global issues.

LIFT is the largest theatre festival in London, renowned both domestically and internationally for commissioning and presenting bold and daring theatrical works from around the world. Its performances aim to inspire the public to challenge artistic, political, and social conventions. Often using the entire city of London as its stage, the festival features programs performed at well-known landmarks or hidden corners, pioneering new forms of theatrical expression while also showcasing how theatre can be more inclusive and sustainable.

LIFT, held biennially, spans up to five weeks. This year's festival runs from June 5 to July 27, with its program focusing on two main themes: "The Personal is Epic," which narrates epic personal stories related to justice, immigration, and protest with mythical proportions, and "Play The Future, Play The Past," which reimagines history and provides audiences with a feast for the mind and sensory experiences, bringing limitless imagination for the future. This year, the festival will present ten productions, including "Bat Night Market."

Taipei Performing Arts Center (TPAC) is a spectacular cultural landmark commissioned by the Taipei City Government. The futuristic design shatters the standardised model of contemporary theatres and embraces inclusivity, reflecting the liveliness and open-mindedness of Taipei city.
“Play Different Together” is the core value of TPAC. As a creative hub for artists, TPAC is dedicated to social engagement, talent cultivation, and international exchanges. Through various strategic platforms and projects, such as ADAM (Asia Discovers Asia Meeting for Contemporary Performance), Camping Asia, Taipei Arts Festival, Taipei Fringe Festival and Taipei Children’s Arts Festival, TPAC has been facilitating cross-cultural and interdisciplinary dialogues and building up networks of contemporary performing arts with local and international institutions for a sustainable ecology of arts and culture. TPAC aims to be a co-production house in the Asia-Pacific region and beyond.

Ku Kuang-Yi lives and works both in Taiwan and the Netherlands. He is an assistant professor at the Institute of Applied Art in NYCU, Taiwan and is doing his Ph.D. research at Sheffield Hallam University, UK and the research topic is the interdisciplinary practice between art, design, and bioscience. He has graduated with triple master degrees with social design from Design Academy Eindhoven, dentistry from National Yang-Ming University, and communication design from Shih Chien University. He is a former dentist, bio-artist, and speculative designer. He also co-founded TW BioArt (Taiwan bioart community) to stimulate the fields of BioArt and Science+Art in Taiwan. His works often deal with human body, sexuality, interspecies interaction, and medical technology, aiming to investigate the relationships among technology, individual and environment.

Ku Kuang-Yi won Bio Art & Design Award in 2022 for the project “Atlas of Queer Anatomy”. His “Tiger Penis Project” has been awarded Gijs Bakker Award 2018, the annual prize for the best project by a graduating master’s student in Design Academy Eindhoven. He has also won the 1st prize of Taipei Digital Art Awards in 2015 with “The Fellatio Modification Project”, where he involves body modification, gender studies, queer theories, and dentistry all together. His works were featured in international medias such as New Scientist, The Huffington Post, Elephant Magazine, DAMN° Magazine, Dezeen, Designboom, VICE, Dazed Digital, Daily Mail, New York Post, and so on.

Source, LIFT Website: https://www.liftfestival.com/event/bat-night-market/

Robert Johnson is a British designer with an MA in Social Design from the Design Academy Eindhoven and the founder of Studio Ficta, a creative start-up that fuses film, interactive design, and design research across anthropological, ecological, and social contexts. Working with film and interactive design, Robert’s projects create alternative narratives using fictional writing as a design research tool, creating characters and dialogues that highlight issues surrounding social attitudes towards labour, materials, and waste streams within the circular economy.

In 2020, Robert completed his residency at the Design Museum, London, where his project titled Fatconomy, presented fat as a valuable resource in urban society, illustrating the potential of discarded fats for the economy, material innovation and urban planning. His work on ‘fat as a new material’ was exhibited at the Tallin Architecture Biennale in 2022 and has given several key lectures at the Cooper Union in New York. the Design Museum, London and the Industrial design academy of Taiwan.

In 2022, he was awarded the design fellowship by the Royal Commission of 1851 in which he will be bringing his speculative design methods to the biofuel sectors within the U.K. focusing on the development of a future factory and cross-collaborative methods on new innovation labours from oil waste streams. His works has been exhibited at TAB 2022, Dezeen, Droog gallery, Design Week, and the Design Museum, London.

Source, LIFT Website: https://www.liftfestival.com/event/bat-night-market/

"Bat Night Market" has 30 visiting time slots in total spread in the 5 days of the performance. For details, please visit the official website of LIFT: https://www.liftfestival.com/event/bat-night-market/

Contact Person: Assistant Director Lin Shin-Yi, shinyi238@moc.gov.tw

For press queries related to LIFT, or Bat Night Market please contact:
chloe@breadandbutterpr.uk | 07961399241
ben@breadandbutterpr.uk | 07931 723 988