28/10/2001
Reports From Afield
Mobius, Boston
...A Chinatown Banquet. An artists' talk given by Mike Blockstein and Jeremy Liu. They will talk about 'A Chinatown Banquet', an interdisciplinary community-based public art and education project, that explores the forces that shaped and continue to influence Boston's Chinatown. 'Reports from Afield' is an ongoing series of monthly Monday evening talks by members of the Mobius Artists Group and guest artists.
Mobius presents "Reports From Afield: A Chinatown Banquet," an
artists' talk given by Mike Blockstein and Jeremy Liu
Monday, October 29, 7 pm
(Boston) Artist/educator/curator Mike Blockstein and artist/community
planner/environmental scientist Jeremy Liu will talk about "A
Chinatown Banquet," an interdisciplinary community-based public art
and education project, that explores the forces that shaped and
continue to influence Boston's Chinatown. Based on the metaphor of a
Chinese banquet, the project integrates three highly visible
multimedia public presentations - a web site, an art exhibit at the
Dreams of Freedom Museum of the International Institute of Boston
(Nov. 6-Feb. 17), and a multimedia-augmented walking trail of
Chinatown's social history which will feature video projections in
the Asian American Bank windows.
"The Banquet" is divided into eight "courses", which cover
immigration policies and immigrant stories, development pressures,
the bachelor community, natural history, colonial history, the role
of the area's restaurants, activism, and intergenerational issues.
They are presented through multiple points of view, giving one a full
appreciation of the collision of opinions and events that have shaped
the community. They aim to make the historic forces and events which
are critical to opening up a deeper and more comprehensive
understanding of the community - whether they are immigration
policies, development pressures, or demographic shifts - a palpable,
breathing experience. The Banquet is a process-oriented project,
attempting to let community members, and those who have influenced or
studied the area, tell the tale themselves. The blend of personal
insights, anecdotes, and undocumented stories give the Banquet its
full flavor and richness.
(Bios.) Mike Blockstein is a visual artist, educator, and curator
working in community-based art that explores the intersections of
artistic process and civic engagement. His interdisciplinary public
art projects utilize a "sense of place" as a mechanism to address
social, cultural and built environments. He is the former Executive
Director of Southern Exposure, a San Francisco nonprofit artists
organization. He developed its Artists in Education program, a
program involving schools, community-based organizations and roughly
400 teens annually, that utilizes art as a tool to teach critical and
creative thinking, new ways of looking at one's environs, and
community involvement. Previous collaborative public art projects
include Available Light, a project where he led photography and
writing workshops for a six-month period, exploring the street as a
metaphor for cultural, personal and commercial exchange with teens
and formerly homeless adults. Blockstein is also on the board of the
National Association of Artists' Organizations (NAAO). He is a
graduate of the Mid-Career Masters of Public Administration program
at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, where he focuses on
questions of art and civic engagement, urban history and potential
alternatives to the nonprofit model.
Jeremy Liu is a community planner, environmental scientist, and
artist. His projects explore and address community, ecological and
design issues and include community-based urban planning, affordable
housing and commercial real estate developments, site-specific art
installations and photography, and community building programs. He is
currently the Director of Community Programs for the Asian Community
Development Corporation in Boston. He has experience in real estate
transactions and development, land use and natural resources
management, arts and cultural planning, archaeological and cultural
resource management, real estate finance, and domestic and
international land/biodiversity conservation efforts. As an active
participant in a variety of art and environmental organizations,
including two Boston-based groups. The Revolving Museum and The
Boston GreenSpace Alliance, he is creating connections between
community groups, art organizations and the environmental movement.
"Reports from Afield" is an ongoing series of monthly Monday evening
talks by members of the Mobius Artists Group and guest artists. These
presentations focus on projects that have been created abroad or
outside the Boston area, or in a public area, and that explore
important artistic, socio-cultural, or political issues. In addition,
many of the reports reflect Mobius' increasingly international
outlook. Please call the Mobius office if you would like more
information about this program.
In 2001, Mobius has been granted a Boston's Best Performance Art
award by The Improper Bostonian. "For more than 21 years, Mobius has
been the city's premiere venue for experimental art, programming a
42-week roller-coaster ride of events that range from
consciousness-raising to the downright bizarre. The annual ArtRages
fundraiser is one of the funkiest and most fun happenings in town,
and the group's commitment to the Fort Point artists' community is
one of the few things standing between it and the developers'
wrecking ball. Our hats are off to them."
Tickets:
free; reservations recommended; please call Mobius at (617) 542-7416
Mobius
Boston's Artist-Run Center
for Experimental Work in All Media
354 Congress St. - Boston, MA 02210
phone: 617-542-7416
fax: 617-451-2910
mary@mobius.org