Artists aim to hold world's attention in Vancouver

Over the next two months, 2,500 artists from Canada and around the world will flock to Vancouver to perform.

With the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics just three weeks away, theCultural Olympiad is set to open onFriday.The high-profile production Beyond Eden debuts Thursday while the gala opening will featureothers such as NIX and The Fiddle and the Drum on Friday.

Dance, music, theatre and visual art events will roll out over the next two months in an attempt to capture the eyes of the world.

Rafael Lozano-Hemmer of Montreal will soon install 20 powerful robotic searchlights on the Vancouver waterfront for his interactive digital exhibit Vectorial Elevation.

People around the world will be able to go online to create their own gigantic light show, visible for 15 kilometres.

"They can actually select searchlights that are located on both sides of English Bay and direct them," he told CBC News.

"They can create this huge light sculpture over English Bay. And then they can send them to Vancouver, just press the submit button. And every 12 seconds in the night, a new design arriving from the internet is actually rendered by the lights."

In Toronto, the aboriginal group Red Sky Performance is getting ready to open its show, Tono, in Vancouver in February.

The critically acclaimed production involves aboriginal singers and dancers from Canada, Mongolia and China.

"I'm really thrilled to be going to the Vancouver Olympics," said Red Sky's artistic director Sandra Laronde.

She's looking forward to seeing several other aboriginal productions, as well as significant exhibits of First Nations visual art.

"It's great to see Canada really step up to the plate and really showcase and honour the talent and vibrancy of the people who have made a contribution to this land for thousands of years," she said.

At Whistler, Vancouver's Only Animal theatre company has constructed a theatre out of 200 tonnes of snow and ice for their production NIX.

Set to open Friday, NIX has been described as part Samuel Beckett, part Cirque du Soleil.

Playwright and director Kendra Fanconi said they tested the show last year in Alberta, but she still has opening night jitters.

"It's inordinately stressful to be right on the brink and knowing audiences are coming and audiences are bringing huge logistics with them," she said.

The entire production takes place inside a snow domeand audiences have to be prepared.

"You're not usually worrying about having hand warmers available for the audienceor have to educate people about what footwear to wear to the theatre," she said.

Fanconi and many other artists hope the Cultural Olympiad will bring them international attention and create an enduring legacy.