Heritage Unseen, presented in partnership with Myseum of Toronto, began as a studio installation project at Ryerson University’s School of Interior Design. Under the guidance of Professor Linda Zhang our studio - titled ‘Ghosts of Chinatown- Interior Atmospheres of Memory’ - aimed to tackle questions of culture, heritage and the perception of “Chinatown-ness” within Toronto’s Chinatown communities. We explored these concepts through literature, case studies and exercises with the ultimate goal of conceptualizing, designing and producing an installation.
Passed on Jan 21, 1980, Zoning By-law No.99-80 amended the Official Plan for the City of Toronto and designated a portion of Chinatown West an “Area of Special Identity” encouraging “the emerging Chinese motif”, such as “illuminated signs, street furniture and architectural detail”. [1] Forty years later, this installation questions what Chinatown’s “Special Identity” is today: Can (and should) Chinatown’s heritage still be defined as “illuminated signs, street furniture and architectural detail”?
Exploring Chinatown’s ‘Special Identity’, this installation challenges the sights of Chinatown that we all know and love. At first glance, the journey begins as the user interacts with the exterior. The shape of the structure mimics the boundaries of Chinatown West and is clad with the kind of imagery of Chinatown's heritage that is encouraged and protected by Toronto’s 1980 by-law. These images - all collected under the hashtag #torontochinatown - display the material understanding of Chinatown’s heritage.
In contrast, as the user moves to the interior, they find the immaterial heritage of Chinatown— the lived experiences that are not accounted for in the City’s by-law. The interior features quotes taken from archival documents that recount the narratives of Chinatown’s residents. Next, the visitor enters an isolated space dedicated to sound, allowing them to fully immerse themselves within the sounds of Chinatown. Finally, the visitor encounters the microbial sites of Chinatown. Grown from microbes, invisible to the naked eye and collected in Chinatown West, they are rendered visible through their aggregation and are cross-coordinated with the locations that the sounds are collected from. As of March 2020, however, we made the decision to replace the physical microbial growth section in light of COVID-19 and the resulting pandemic. Instead, the petri dishes will contain a collection of events as documented by mainstream news and media that bring to light the rampant xenophobia and racism that the Chinatown communities have had to face as a consequence of SARS in 2003 and the COVID-19 pandemic in a long legacy (over a century) of battling prejudice and stereotyping of Chinatown and its people as “agents of infectious disease”.
Thus, the users are enveloped entirely within this sensorial experience, wherein they are stimulated by the times, sounds, sights, and sites of Torontonian Chinatowns. In this interior space, we ask visitors , what should inform the recollection of Chinatown and what could its future heritage be?
[1] City of Toronto, By-Law No.99-80 to adopt an amendment to Part I of the Official Plan for the City of Toronto Planning Area respecting South-East Spadina (Toronto, Canada, 1980)
IMAGE & INFORMATION CREDITS
MATERIAL HERITAGES: IMAGES FOUND THROUGH #torontochinatown
[1] Alex Chu (@_photos.by.ac_) and @yixinandhispictures_2019
[2] @torontochinatown and @moundermel
[3] @torontochinatown and Agnes Zeng (@_infin2019)
[4] @valleyofthedolskis, @yixinandhispictures_2019 and Alex Chu (@_photos.by.ac_)
[5] @laurellielee and @rubie_red
[6] Eduardo Acosta (@silens_loquor) and @byjoannejohn
[7] @rubie_red and @journey_ca
[8] @andrew_thelionlord and @byjoannejohn
[9] @laurellielee and @alancherne
IMMATERIAL HERITAGES: QUOTES
[1] City of Toronto Archives. Fonds 1314, series 1024, file 152.
[2]City of Toronto Archives. Fonds 841, series 2337, file 19.
[3]City of Toronto Archives. Fonds 841, series 2337, file 20.
IMMATERIAL HERITAGES: PETRI DISHES
[1] How the ‘model minority’ myth fuels anti-Asian racism and white supremacy by Adrian Cheung.
https://www.thestar.com/podcasts/thismatters/2021/03/31/how-the-model-minority-myth-fuels-anti-asian-racism-and-white-supremacy.html
[2] SARS-Fuelled Racism Scarred Chinese-Canadians by Premila D’Sa.
https://www.huffingtonpost.ca/entry/coronavirus-sars-racism-canada_ca_5e3241f6c5b611ac94cf4b36
[3] The Racist Face of SARS by Warren Kinsella.
https://archive.macleans.ca/article/2003/4/14/the-racist-face-of-sars
[4] Chinese-Canadians worry about racism, job losses one year into pandemic by The Canadian Press.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/chinese-canadians-concerns-racism-job-losses-pandemic-1.5905974
[5] The ‘Shadow’ Pandemic by Fiona Tinwei Lam.
https://thetyee.ca/Analysis/2020/05/07/Shadow-Pandemic-Anti-Asian-Racism/
[6] In 2021, Asian Canadians Document Hate Crimes To Be Believed by Amy Chung.
https://www.huffingtonpost.ca/entry/anti-asian-racism-canada_ca_603d08cdc5b682971502118f
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