Canada's Toronto SummerWorks Art Festival Features Two Taiwanese Artists

The SummerWorks Performance Festival in Toronto, Canada, will feature the work of two Taiwanese artists, Wang Pin-hsiang and Chou Kuan-jou, from August 6 to 16. The festival, a prominent contemporary performing arts platform in Canada since 1991, centers its 2026 edition on the theme "Fight | Flight."

Wang Pin-hsiang's performance, "The War Without Pupils," is a multimedia lecture that draws connections from the pop song "Girl on Fire." It delves into personal growth, military experiences, and digital life, weaving together pop culture, queer identity, and anxieties about war to explore individual circumstances in times of national sovereignty and upheaval.

Chou Kuan-jou will present both her "Free Touch" street practice project and its theatrical extension. The street project, initiated in 2024, involves consensual touch interactions with the public across four countries and 15 locations. It will be recreated in Toronto's outdoor spaces on August 8 and 15.

The theatrical version, "Free Touch in Presence," adapts the public domain's body perception using contemporary theater language. It previously won the Best Production award at the 2025 Taipei Fringe Festival and will have its international premiere as a touring version in Toronto on August 13 and 14.