Metro Poles in Chinatown — at AAAC

Metro Poles in Chinatown

Friday October 24, 2008 3pm
at AAAC 26 Bowery 3fl

This Fall the Asian American Arts Centre joins in a cross-borough collaboration called Metro Poles 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 & the Chatham Green Cooperative 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.

At the Charles B. Wang Community Health Center from Oct 22 till Jan 10. Clients & patients of the Health Center can view the art work of three artists, Katarina Wong, Wennie Huang, & Tamiko Kawata during their visit there. The general public is welcome to this open press conference on the 24th, and during special limited hours to view the installations 630pm - 830pm on three dates - Oct 27, Nov 12 & Dec 5. Three Walking Tours will coincide with these dates starting at AAAC at 530pm. CBWCHC address is 268 Canal St & 125 Walker St.

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. Special public reception Sat Nov 22 3pm – 5pm

The Chatham Green Cooperative, right across from the police barricade that keeps Park Row closed, artists Nathalie Pham, and Avani Patel, with the support of artist Ke Qin Yang, will enable community people, local school children, local artists and others to express in words and/or image their hopes for the Chinatown community. This is scheduled for Oct 25 to Dec 13. Every weekend the artists will be on site to facilitate this. Stories, experiences, feelings & grievances of community people will have a chance to be aired on the panels of this outdoor site. You can see the Chatham Green Cooperative, a long, curving building of 21 stories, where Mott St flows into Chatham Square and connects to Park Row.

Artist Yo Park in December &/or January with the full cooperation of the NY Police Department, will create greater harmony by enabling community people to meet and chat informally over free tea & coffee with members of the police department. The site for this will be named shortly – see updates on www.artspiral.org

On December 5th Friday, 530-715pm 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 for all three sites from 715pm – 900pm.

Recommended is for audiences to visit installation sites and see the special feature of Metro Poles - continuous changes by succeeding artists - see this before the December 5th final reception.

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

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 50 artists, will debut new work almost simultaneously in the Bronx, Queens, and Manhattan. Curators are: Heng-Gil Han of JCAL, Jose Ruiz of BRAC & Bob Lee of AAAC. See the following to learn more about Metro Poles at JACL (718) 658-7400 http://www.jcal.org/visual_arts/programs.html, and at BRAC 718-589-5819 www.bronxriverart.org .

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, Dedalus Foundation, Expedi Printing, Inc., Charles Yuen, Jody and John Arnhold, Danny C.K. Li, Jeanne Lee Jackson, Linda Peng, Wing Lee Yee, Mikyung Kim, Richard Kenny Esq, John Yu, and the many generous friends of the Asian American Arts Centre.

The Asian American Arts Centre is located in Lower Manhattan at 26 Bowery (just below Canal Street, 3rd floor above McDonalds. Press bell #3.). It is a short walk from the N, Q, J, M, Z, and 6 trains at Canal Street or the B and D at Grand Street or the M103, M15, or M9 buses to Chatham Square.