Public Art
Un-monument | Re-monument | De-monument: Transforming Boston
Pao Arts Center is thrilled to be a curatorial partner of the City of Boston’s Un-monument, Re-monument, De-Monument: Transforming Boston. Alongside Boston Public Art Triennial, Emerson Contemporary, National Center of Afro-American Artists, North American Indian Center of Boston Chief of Arts and Culture, the Center's public art activations will reflect on whose stories are included or excluded in Boston's narratives.
Pao Arts Center will share a series of temporary public art and performance place-based projects and events that celebrate Chinatown as a neighborhood, cultural hub, and monument within the City. Each public intervention will showcase and uplift underrepresented Asian American and Pacific Islanders (AAPI) voices and consider how public art can inspire residents, visitors, and artists to engage in these efforts.
The projects below are on view as part of Celebrations of Perseverance: Public Art in Chinatown, 2024-2025 through June 20, 2025.
by Sheila Novak, Cass Li, and Wen-hao Tien with project support from Maria Fong
by Joanna Tam
by Jennifer Duan, Stephanie Li, and
Katelyn Lipton
by Ecosistema Urbano
2024 Open Call: Public Art Community Review Panel
For the 2024 Un-monument temporary public art and performance projects, Pao Arts Center launched an open call to invite AAPI artists to support the first year of this public art initiative with community partners. As part of our mission to center community voices, we assembled a Community Review Panel of seven AAPI artists and Chinatown community members who were invited by curator Lani Asunción to review project submissions.
Through an anonymous review process, the jury considered each submission based on three criteria: creativity, cultural relevance, and community connection. The selected projects and artists excited the jury with their focus on engagement, artistic vision, and cultural resonance for the neighborhood.
About the Curator
Lani Asunción (they/she)
Lani Asunción is a Filipinx interdisciplinary artist who uses multimedia technologies and research to create socially conscious work that explores aspects of cultural identity and climate change in the form of public art and performance. Asunción’s current project SONG/LAND/SEA: WAI Water Warning is a public sculpture installation commissioned by the Rose Kennedy Greenway on view from 2024 until Fall 2025, supported by a 2024 MOAC Neighborhood Activation Grant and 2024-25 Expanding Massachusetts Stories Climate Track Grant from Mass Humanities.
Photo credit: Sasha Pedro
Curator Statement
“For the past two years I have enjoyed the opportunity to work as the 2024-2025 Un-monument initiative project Curator and Public Art Manager at Pao Arts Center (BCNC) in Chinatown supporting their partnership with the Mayor’s Office of Arts & Culture in Boston. The 2024 public art projects were selected through an open call process with the support from an invited Community Review Panel. These public art projects create space for joy and community celebration of cultural identity, through uplifting Chinatown as a neighborhood, cultural hub, and monument within the city of Boston. Artists engage with Chinatown residents through play, exploration, and celebration, with the goal of strengthening the community and advocating for green spaces, affordable housing, and safer streets. I’m looking forward to working on 2025 curated projects with community members and environmental architect team Ecosistema Urbano to activate their site-specific project POLINATURE Chinatown to create climate comfortable and sustainable work that aids in climate change mitigation efforts, while working together to design a space for community engagement and dreaming of how to support a greener and thriving Chinatown.”
About the Project
The Un-monument initiative is presented by Pao Arts Center, curated by Lani Asunción, in collaboration with the City of Boston Mayor’s Office of Arts and Culture brought to you by a grant from the Mellon Foundation.
