Chinatown In/Flux

The Project

Throughout its history, Philadelphia’s Chinatown—like many Chinatowns throughout the country—has struggled with encroachment upon its borders. With projects like Independence Park to the east, the Gallery shopping mall on the south, the Convention Center to the west, Chinatown has in effect been “boxed in.” More recently, private developers have been building luxury condominiums throughout the area, which is now sometimes referred to as the “Loft District.”
 
At the same time, Philadelphia’s Chinatown has strong history of resiliency and growth--changing with the constant influx of new immigrants—and a rich tradition of activism and the ability to affect positive change, from the fight to stop the Vine Street Expressway from dividing the neighborhood to the dreams of creating greenspace and building a community center.
 
Chinatown In/flux: Future Landscape will be a public exhibition project featuring four artist teams that affirms the rights of neighborhood residents and community members to define, control land, and make decisions about Philadelphia’s Chinatown. Through site-specific installations in neighborhood locations, the exhibition hopes to expand the physical and social boundaries of Chinatown, and catalyze community-wide imagination and present a positive vision for Chinatown’s future.

Background

The Asian Arts Initiative is a community arts center in Philadelphia that is grounded in the belief that the arts can provide an important political and cultural voice for Asian Americans. Our Gallery Program is a forum for emerging visual artists to engage Asian American communities through contemporary art exhibitions, workshops, and events that address our current social context and challenge how we look at art and who participates in its creation. Chinatown In/flux takes art outside of the traditional “vanilla box” of a gallery and instead situates installations in public and private sites throughout a neighborhood, mirroring our belief that art is integral to and integrated with everyday life.
 
In 2006 the Asian Arts Initiative presented Chinatown In/flux as a major exhibition with site-specific installations created by 7 artists at over a dozen diverse locations throughout Chinatown Philadelphia—from restaurants and storefronts to community centers and outdoor plazas—engaging residents and visitors alike to shift their perceptions of art and definitions of community. The exhibition was the culmination of an intensive two-year process of planning and community involvement, which we are beginning again for Chinatown In/flux: Future Landscape.

Based on the project proposals we received in response to our Call for Artists Fall 2006, we selected eight artist/teams to be a part of the Planning Phase in Spring 2007. The Artists publicly presented their past work and initial project concepts at a retreat in March while being able to hear from and meet with integral members of the Chinatown Community including: the Philadelphia Chinatown Development Corporation, Holy Redeemer Church and School, Chinese Christian Church and School, On Lok Senior Center, and Free Library of Philadelphia Independence Branch. 

Over the next two months, the Artist did research, carried out practice community workshops, and made prototypes of their ideas.  In May, the eight artist/teams again presented their project proposals, but with more informed concepts and implementation strategies based on their experiences.  From these, our curatorial committee selected four artist/teams’ projects to include in the exhibition: Nadia Hironaka, Rebecca Hackemann, Jeremy Liu and Hiroko Kikuchi, and Jonathan and Kimberly Stemler.
 
Over the next year and a half, the Asian Arts Initiative will continue to plan, research, and work to support the artists and their amazing project proposals, set to launch in Spring 2009.

Major support for Chinatown In/flux: Future Landscape planning was provided by the Philadelphia Exhibitions Initiative, funded by The Pew Charitable Trusts and administered by The University of the Arts, Philadelphia, PA.