Step into a night market of the future

Where will our food come from in the future? And what cultural sensitivities might be at play as we rethink global consumption?

Bringing together performance, speculative design and science, BAT NIGHT MARKET is a collaboration between artist Kuang-Yi Ku and designer Robert Charles Johnson, co-commissioned by LIFT and Taipei Performing Arts Center.

Set in an imagined night market where bat species are extinct, it invites visitors to consider a plethora of entangled issues that surround this mysterious species…

What is Bat Night Market, and where did the idea come from?

Kuang-Yi: The piece is set in a future scenario in which bats are extinct. It’s been conceived as a place to let people remember and celebrate this amazing species through a series of sensorial activities. The idea came from the anti-Asian “food racism” that was evident following the COVID-19 outbreak, when eating bats was regarded as the origin of the pandemic. With this installation, we want to invite people to rethink the complexities of this topic, including issues around ecological crisis, virus transmission, future food, biotechnologies, cultural stigmas and racism.

Rob: The market represents a celebration, a gathering of cultures with various dishes to try. It aims to blur reality with fiction: to allow the audience to imagine a future without bats, which of course should not be celebrated, but which is entirely possible.

What drew you to the bat to want to make work about it?

Kuang-Yi: In addition to possibly being the origin of COVID-19, the bat carries many cultural stigmas in human society. This complexity intrigued me, and made me want to create a work that invites people to rethink all the controversies around this species. Can we still eat bats? Is it problematic? Why is it important for the environment to protect them? All these questions came to mind while making this project.

Rob: For me, it’s also the iconography around the bat, its mystery, its presence in the night. I wanted to understand more than just ‘the Batman symbol.’ Since working on this project I have learned so many amazing facts about bats and how important they are to the ecosystem.

You’ve collaborated with a number of King’s researchers. How have these perspectives impacted the project?

Kuang-Yi: During our R&D at Science Gallery London, we collaborated with Lucy Di Silvio, a Professor of Tissue Engineering; PhD researcher Martha Gallardo Galaviz; anthropologist Ann Kelly; and Gemma Bowsher, who works at the interface of health security and biological threats. Their expertise and scientific knowledge helped us to design a possible future with a unique perspective.

Rob: It’s had a huge impact. We can have a speculative idea about what we want, but speaking to the experts adds so many more layers, making the research not only real, but rich with new stories and discoveries.

You’ve had R&D periods for this work in London and Taipei. What has been the response to the idea of eating lab-grown bat meat?

Kuang-Yi: People from different backgrounds react to these work-in-progress presentations in very different ways. Some people refuse to eat because they think it is real artificial bat meat. But their fears also mean that this presentation is working at a certain level. Also, people have enjoyed the critical discussions arising from the activities.

What do you hope audiences will take away from the experience?

Kuang-Yi: I hope people will understand the urgency of the issue of extinction due to human intervention in the ecosystem. I hope the audience will appreciate the complexity of the relationship between humans and bats, and start to cherish their existence.

Rob: I held stigmas about bats at the start of this journey, and now I have a completely new understanding. If the audience can walk away having learned something new about the complex bat, it would be a win.

BAT NIGHT MARKET runs from 10 – 15 June at Science Gallery London as part of LIFT 2024.