Becoming Chinatown

Becoming Chinatown: Talks and Performances on Possible Futures invites students, artists, architects, designers, urbanists, community organizers, and the public to rethink and reimagine the future of Chinatowns in the contemporary built environment. Organized in partnership with Colorado Asian Pacific United and History Colorado, a series of performances, workshops, and roundtable discussions are hosted at the University of Colorado Denver that interrogates ideals and realities of Chinatowns in the United States. Formats of design outcomes and conversations will be displayed in the Fishbowl Gallery at CU Denver as the Talks and Performances continue.

Part one: (Re)organizing Chinatown
February 27, 2025

This panel brings together four community organizers and activists to discuss the challenges and opportunities involved in organizing events and programs that address socio-political injustices while enhancing the cultural identities of Chinatowns across the United States. Focusing on various placemaking efforts, such as interactive kiosks, historical markers, block parties, and community-led exhibitions, this discussion will explore the strategies used by community organizations to engage diverse constituents in advocating for a vibrant future.

Sophie Chien (University of Colorado Boulder) / Bz Zhang (Los Angeles Neighborhood Land Trust) / Joie Ha (Colorado Asian Pacific United) / Yin Kong (Think!Chinatown). Moderator: Samantha Martin (History Colorado).

Part two: (Un)settling Chinatown
March 13, 2025

This panel brings together three art and architectural historians to recast Chinatown and its physical realities into a larger conceptual framework. From a Chinese folk art museum in Chicago in the face of multiple forms of displacement threats, to the material and knowledge circulations mediated by both Chinese labor and iron roads, this panel contributes to the talk and performance series by putting Chinatown into historical perspective, while probing perceived binaries including those of high and low, subject and object. It invites reflection on the possibilities for reimagining Chinatowns as dynamic spaces of cultural resilience and future potential.

Tairan An (Princeton University) / Zhiyan Yang (University of Chicago) / Chenchen Yan (Princeton University) / Moderator: Sarah Hearne (University of Colorado Denver).

Artifact Table sponsored by History Colorado

Part three: (Re)imagining Chinatown
April 10, 2025

This panel brings together three designer-educators to reimagine Chinatowns through design and storytelling endeavors. It aims to foreground design tools as active agencies contributing to the reimagination of social and spatial contexts of Chinatowns. It asks: how can we reconstruct a spatial narrative that encapsulates the silenced stories of the displaced communities? How can we cultivate a shared repository of design knowledge and expertise to repair cultural identity and reshape the collective milieu for these communities? 

Lily Wong (University of Miami) / Xiaoxi Chen (Columbia University) / Linda Zhang (University of Waterloo) / Moderator: Leyuan Li (University of Colorado Denver, Office for Roundtable).

About Becoming Chinatown
Organizer: Leyuan Li (University of Colorado Denver, Office for Roundtable) / Collaborator: Tairan An (Princeton University School of Architecture) / Curatorial Assistant: Molly Rose Merkert (University of Colorado Denver) / Other Exhibition Contributors: Xuanyu Wei, Zihao Zhang, Singwei Ling / Community Partners: History Colorado, Colorado Asian Pacific United / Installation Design: Max Bravo (Studio Everyone) / Graphic Identity: Julio Correa Estrada, Kaming Lee / Funding Support: CU Timmerhaus Fund Ambassadors.