Part 1: Introducing Residence Lab 2021

By Qing Qing Pan, originally published on Pao Arts Center’s website.

Hello, my name is Qing Qing, and I am one of Pao Art Center’s summer interns. For the past few months, I have had the honor to provide Mandarin interpretation for and document the 2021 Residence Lab (ResLab) cohort’s journey in their co-creating.  

These artists and residents have been busy! This year’s cohort is made up of three teams of Boston-based artists and Chinatown residents, who have been invited to combine their artistic creativity and neighborhood expertise to re-imagine Boston Chinatown. Each team has drawn inspiration from this year’s theme of collective care to create their site specific installations. Their projects will be on view at Mary Soo Hoo Park at the Rose Kennedy Greenway throughout the month of September, in partnership with the Greenway Conservancy. As teams finalize designs and start building the installations, this blog will serve to document their journey through the activation. Take a peek at what is to come for our ResLab kick-off on August 27th!

Residence Lab is a partnership between Pao Arts Center and Asian Community Development Corporation (ACDC) to empower and train artists and residents to collectively preserve the Chinatown community through creative and artistic space activation.

Caption: In their first in-person workshop, artists and residents learned more about the geography and physical space of Mary Soo Hoo Park.

Image description: The red fence at Mary Soo Hoo Park on a sunny Saturday evening on June 5th, with a row of photos and maps of the park taped and hanging across it. Photo Credit: Qing Qing Pan.

Caption: To liven up the energy, ResLab artists and facilitators “dress up” for an impromptu dance party with virtual filters! 

Image description: Screencap of ResLab virtual workshop on July 9th. Featured are the 2021 Residence Lab cohort, wearing various goofy Zoom filters, such as a red beret, pixelated sunglasses, and furry bear face.

Screencap of Residence Lab’s 2nd virtual workshop on May 21st, spotlighting ResLab artist Yuko sharing her drawing for a prompt with the rest of the group. Her drawing features smiling people exercising and playing around, with labeled open space for residents, fences, exercise equipment, and benches.

Three ResLab participants sit at a table in Mary Soo Hoo Park, covered in papers, pens, and bags of snacks. They discuss their design proposals together. Photo Credit: Qing Qing Pan.

This post is part of a series dedicated to Residence Lab’s 2021 program. Click here to read more.