METROPOLES : ART IN CHINATOWN

Asian American Arts Centre
presents
Metro Poles In Chinatown
藝 匯 唐 人 街

Participating artists: Katarina Wong, Wennie Huang, Tamiko Kawata, Olivia Beens, Wan Ling Li, Angela Valeria, Tamara Gubernat, Laura Chipley, Francisca Porali, Nathalie Pham, Avani Patel, Yo Park

This Fall the Asian American Arts Centre joins in a cross-borough collaboration called Metro Poles: Art In Action occurring simultaneously in Jamaica, the Bronx & Lower Manhattan. Metro Poles in Chinatown marks the first time AAAC will partner with the Charles B. Wang Community Health Center & Chinatown Manpower Project & other local entities as installation sites for artists art works. This will open community institutions to the innovations and ideas of new art inviting a New York audience from Manhattan & other boroughs together with local people & residents.

[ The Four Artists Installations for Metro Poles in Chinatown ]

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At the Charles B. Wang Community Health Center from Oct 24 till Jan 10. Clients of the Health Center can view the art work of three artists, Katarina Wong, Wennie Huang, & Tamiko Kawata. Special limited hours to welcome public viewing will take place on Oct 27, Nov 12 & Dec 5 630pm - 830pm. CBWCHC address is 268 Canal St & 125 Walker St.

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At Chinatown Manpower Project from Oct 14 till Nov 29 clients of Manpower as well as the general public can view the work of two groups of three artists, Olivia Beens, Wan Ling Li & Angela Valeria, with Tamara Gubernat, Laura Chipley & Francisca Caporali as the second group. Located at 70 Mulberry St, Manpower viewing hrs are 9 am-5pm, M-F, Sat 9-4pm.

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Avani Patel and Nathalie Pham will create an outdoor installation in Chatham Green, inviting not only local residents but local school children to think about what Chinatown means to them. What do they love or dislike about their neighborhood? How do they envision their Chinatown? What grievances need to be aired? This is an opportunity for community people to join in creating a reflection in written words and visual form of what is in the minds and hearts of those who live or work in Chinatown.

Particularly for the young the artists will email stories to schoolteachers about the history of Chinatown to fuel the imagination. Teachers are asked to work with the students to illustrate their ideas on paper. The student drawings will be collected, selected, enlarged and painted on out door panels constructed on the front of Chatham Green Housing, right across from the Police baricade blocking Park Row. Parents and children are also invited to join both artists each Saturday from 11am to 4 pm starting October 25th to December 13th to paint.

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In December & January the artist Yo Park will have a concluding series of events aimed to create greater harmony in the community. With the cooperation of the Police Dept she will enabling community people to meet and chat over free tea & coffee with members of the police department. A site is TBA. Stay tuned for updates.

On December 5th Friday, 530pm-930pm audiences will be able to meet and hear the artists from all three sites speak. This will be held at AAAC, 26 Bowery. Afterwards, immediately following this talk, a reception will be held from 715pm-830pm. For those interested in a guided tour of the three sites, three dates have been reserved for this. On Oct 27, Nov 12 & Dec 5 participants can gather at AAAC. Each tour will begin at 530pm, ending at 830pm.

Metro Poles: Art in Action is a cross-borough collaboration with Jamaica Center for Arts and Learning (JCAL), Bronx River Arts Center (BRAC) & Maiden Lane Exhibition Space. In October & November 2008 over 40 artists, will debut new work almost simultaneously in the Bronx, Queens, and Manhattan. Artists will work in rotating shifts, engaging in a collaborative process of creating art work. The curatorial premise of Metro Poles is to resist commodification of the art object, nurture the creative collaboration between artists and curators, and develop a new curatorial model for the contemporary art market. Thus over the course of the exhibition artists will revise, add and deconstruct the initial installation. Creative collaboration will be put forth as an alternative to glamorizing the uniqueness of art.

The Manpower site is a good example of the Metro Pole idea, giving the general public as well as the local Chinatown audience a rare opportunity to witness the process of artistic evolution. Initial installation by the first artist will happen the third week of October 2008. The work will remain unedited and available for public view for an interim period of about 10 to 14 days. After that interim period the next artist will arrive at the site and continue the process of creation and revision, and expand upon the initial artists momentum through addition, subtraction, reposition, etc. After a similar interim period of public viewing, the baton is passed to the third artist and the process continues.


The Chinatown Manpower Project (CMP) is located at 70 Mulberry St corner of Bayard St. CMP is a non-profit organization dedicated to serving the refugee and immigrant population in NYC through training and education programs. Two spaces at CMP, which will be open to the public M-F during regular business hours, one is a meeting room just off the stairwell, conveniently accessible. The other space is a very large office area with long very visible walls. For more info see www.cmpny.org.

The second site is in CBWCHC - Charles B. Wang Community Health Center at 268 Canal St & 125 Walker St. This is where many non-traditional viewers, clients of the Health Center, will have access to this new form of art innovation. Please note, open public viewing is restricted to three evening dates, with special limited hours to host & welcome public viewing: Oct 27, Nov 12 & Dec 5 at 630pm - 830pm. For more info see www.cbwchc.org.

In mid-January 2009 a concluding talk and reception will take place at Jamaica Center for Arts & Learning encompassing all artists and all sites. See the following to learn more about Metro Poles at JACL (718) 658-7400 www.jcal.org/visual_arts/programs.html, and at BRAC 718-589-5819 www.bronxriverart.org.

Metro Poles In Chinatown is organized by Robert Lee with the assistant of Adliana Bahrin. Asian American Arts Centre, Inc. is supported, in part with public funds from The New York State Council on the Arts, and The National Endowment for the Arts, New York City Department of Cultural Affairs. With additional funding and support from Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, 9.11 Fund, Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, Manhattan Mini Storage/Edison Properties Inc, Materials for the Arts, Pearl River Mart, United Orient Bank, New York Cosmopolitan Lions Club, Con Edison, the University of Hong Kong, Dedalus Foundation, The Nonprofit Finance Fund, WTC Business Recovery Fund, Expedi Printing, Inc., Jody and John Arnhold, Danny C.K. Li, Jeanne Lee Jackson, Linda Peng, Wing Lee Yee, John Yu, and the many generous friends of the Asian American Arts Centre.

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