Social Practice Lab Series

Asian Arts Initiative

Hiroko Kikuchi and Jeremy Liu, Chinatown Orange, 2009. Site Specific public installation, paint, mixed media. — Hiroko Kikuchi and Jeremy Liu, *Chinatown Orange*, 2009. Site Specific public installation, paint, mixed media.

Recipient

Grant Year 2011

Grant Amount $25,000

Status Completed

Updated May 30, 2023

With guest curator Aimee Chang and a national advisory committee of recognized artists, curators, and arts organizers—among them Edgar Arceneaux, Andrea Bowers, Nato Thompson, and Pepón Osorio—Asian Arts Initiative conducted planning for the launch of a new artist residency program called Social Practice Lab. Housed in the organization's then recently acquired 24,000-square-foot building in Philadelphia's Chinatown North neighborhood, the program aims to make Asian Arts a hub for socially engaged contemporary art. The series also builds upon Asian Arts' Chinatown In/Flux projects of 2006 and 2009, which brought work by professional artists to nearby restaurants, storefronts, and outdoor plazas. At the time of this project, guest curator Chang was at the Blanton Museum of Contemporary Art (Austin, TX); previously she had overseen public and residency programs at the Hammer Museum (Los Angeles, CA).

Primary EventsEvents & Exhibitions

Gayle Isa, executive director of Asian Arts Initiative, on Pearl Street. Photo by Akira Suwa, courtesy of the Philadelphia Inquirer.

Asian Arts Initiative's Pearl Street July Clean-up

Jul 26, 2014
Asian Arts Initiative, 1219 Vine Street, Philadelphia

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Recipient

Asian Arts Initiative

Located in Philadelphia’s Chinatown North neighborhood, Asian Arts Initiative (AAI) uses art as a vehicle to explore the experiences of Asian Americans and the diverse communities of which they are a part. A multidisciplinary art center and community gathering space, AAI offers exhibitions, performances, artist residencies, and youth workshops that connect cultural expression and social change.

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