Born in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, CHEN Wu-kang embarked on a 12-year long-term collaboration journey with New York based choreographer Eliot Feld as a dancer, and his creative process was profoundly influenced by the experience. In 2004, CHEN co-founded HORSE Dance Theatre, and has been the artistic director since then. In 2007, their work Velocity received the Taishin Performing Arts Award. In 2009, he was invited to be the dance director for the 21st Summer Deaflympics opening ceremony in Taipei. In 2012, 2 Men won the first prize in German choreography competition Kurt Jooss Preis. CHEN started collaborating with artists from different fields in 2011 to create cross-disciplinary works, including Successor—an exhibition/performing art collaboration, as well as the improvisational project Primal Chaos (co-curated with improvisational pianist Lee Shih yang), among other projects.
｜Significant Works｜
- 2016 Initiated a cross-cultural and field research collaboration with Thai contemporary dancer and choreographer Pichet Klunchun.
- 2018 Behalf
- 2018-2021 Rama's House three-year project
- 2019 Co-directed and performed Jérôme Bel's The Show Must Go On at Taipei Arts Festival.
- 2020 Co-choreographed and performed Dances for Wu-Kang Chen (recipient of the Taishin Performing Arts Award). Co-created with video artist Ray SUN, 2019 Thank You So Much for Your Time, 2020 live streaming performance Thank You for Staying Home, and 2021 live streaming and cross-national performances 14 were commissioned by Esplanade – Theatres on the Bay.
- 2022 Taiwan International Festival of Arts (TIFA) Two men, ten years later; Japan's Kinosaki International Arts Center artist-in-residence project Closed Tomorrow.