CHINATOWN IN/FLUX

Through Jan. 29, 2006, Asian Arts Initiative and various public sites in Chinatown, 1315 Cherry St., second floor, 215-557-0455

Philadelphia's Chinatown began with a single Chinese-American laundry in the 1860s and has grown into a thriving residential neighborhood and a major cultural and business district. "Chinatown In/Flux," an ambitious project of site-specific public art now on view throughout Chinatown, was organized by the Asian Arts Initiative to explore the transitions that are still taking place in this diverse community. Gayle Isa, executive director of AAI, explained that the organizers chose seven artists with very different backgrounds and sensibilities to offer a variety of perspectives on the Chinatown community, as well as to "jar stereotypes." Planning for the project started three years ago and all of the artists made visits to Chinatown to meet with people from the community.

Inevitably, the artists all connected with the community in different ways through their projects. Hirokazu Kosaka (a native of Japan, an artist, a Buddhist priest of the Shingon sect and a master Zen archer now living in L.A.) worked very closely with the community when he developed Ruin Map, a series of woodcut prints based on drawings by local senior citizens from memories of their hometowns, houses and farms.

Steve Wong, an installation and video artist who works in L.A.'s Chinatown, used his heightened sensitivity to the production of art within a tourist economy to make plates for utilitarian and "promotional" use in two local restaurants, Imperial Inn and Shiao Lan Kung, but they can also be seen at AAI. His set of 8 plates, titled The China Project, each have quotes about the reality and fantasy of Chinatown circling their edges in blue lettering. One starts out, "It is nice to live in Chinatown…," another, "When I think of Chinatown I think of the beautiful Chinese girls…"

JiHyun Park, a New York-based installation artist who immigrated to the U.S. from Korea in 1999, also addresses local commerce in Chicken Broccoli. As a tribute to the American-invented Chinese restaurant staple, Park constructed 20 hand-painted cast resin fake bonsai trees with tiny dioramas of broccoli and chickens and installed them in a storefront filled with decorative ceramics. Skowman Hastanan's piece, Tell me a Story, in the window of the Serendipity Café, doesn't directly comment on the commercial operation, but rather on the past and present of all of the people who enter and pass by. Her decorative bead curtain was made from strings of jewellike clear acrylic beads containing prints of old photos and quotes from AAI's oral history project in three languages. Hastanan was born and raised in Thailand, but has lived in New York since 1973.

Tomei Arei, another New York-based artist, also works with a decorative form to examine details from ordinary life in the Chinatown community. Located in a tiny park on 10th Street, Arai's sculpture Swirl is a huge circular disk with a hole in the center, shaped to resemble a jade "bi," a traditional Chinese pendant or talisman. The form shimmers with a pattern of gold leaves of urban trees layered over a collage of photographic prints of local people and sites. Jean Shin is interested in the act of looking at ordinary life. Her installation, Chinatown 20/20, consists of multiple pairs of eyeglasses mounted in the window of the Rainbow Hair Salon and two other businesses, so that a viewer can look inside or a patron can look out. Every pair of glasses shows a unique birds-eye view or magnified fragment of the interior or exterior—each with a different perspective on the world. Shin is a native of Seoul who now lives in New York.

Mei-ling Hom, a well-known Philadelphia artist of Chinese descent, has designed a large banner covered with a row of color photographs of the eyes of Chinatown residents. The installation of her piece, titled Chinatown Eyes, on a structure along the Vine Street Expressway was delayed, but it should be up by the end of November. The piece reflects on real differences in one physical feature of people in the Chinatown community (which traditionally is a stereotypical image) and, conversely, it also gives viewers the chance to consider the community's view of the rest of the city.

Gayle Isa told me that one of the best benefits of the project has been that many residents (some with expectations of familiar, conventional art forms like dragon parades and community murals) became very interested in learning about the creative process and in finding out more about contemporary art. Similarly, according to Isa, most of the artists were not familiar with Philadelphia's Chinatown so the project was a great learning experience for them too. One of the more intriguing aspects of the exhibition for me is its treasure-hunt-like appeal. I found Kosaka's bound book of prints, filled with wordless, fragmentary images of houses, trees and streets, in On Lok House, a residence for senior citizens. The work is seamlessly woven into the community and sometimes hard to locate—but the search is worth the effort.

Stop at AAI's gallery first to see descriptions of the various projects located throughout Chinatown and pick up a brochure with a self-guided walking tour. Check out www.chinatowninflux.org for information, maps and directions. Walking tour, Thu., Dec. 1, 5:30 p.m., free, followed by "How Can Art Change Communities?" panel discussion with Tomie Arai, Mei-ling Hom and Pepon Osorio, 7 p.m.; Wed., Dec. 7, 5:30 p.m., free, followed by "Contested Histories of Chinatown" panel discussion with Lena Sze, Harry Leong, Jack Tchen, Steve Wong and Cecelia Moy Yep, 7 p.m. Additional tours can be arranged by calling 215-557-0455.