Photo by Cindy Trinh (@cindytrinh.photo)
We’re back with another sunny season of Chinatown Block Party 夏日傾情 at the historic newsstand at Mott & Mosco Streets!
Pulling from the ever-growing archive of the Chinatown Records project, YiuYiu 瑶瑶 brings some of her favorite Canto- and Mandopop records and CDs inherited from her family and neighbors to fill the streets of Chinatown again. For our first block party of the season, YiuYiu 瑶瑶 invites first-time DJ Buckley Yung 翁百里 to share the decks and his decades of Chinese music knowledge with us.
The DJs will be in a box filled with colorful and transparent acrylic tiles by Prisca Choe 최하연, featuring dancheong (literally translated to “red and blue/green”) patterns in the style that was solidified in Korea's Joseon Dynasty (1392-1897) to adorn and physically protect important buildings. As the light filters through the tiles, we want the box to glow with the colorful patterns as a wish for all of our protection and safety!
This is a block party for the whole family! Meet you at the box ~ rain or shine 💃🕺
Sponsored by Lower Manhattan Cultural Council and NYC Dept of Cultural Affairs with support from NYC Dept of Small Businesses. Thank you to our community safety partner, Nonviolent Peaceforce.
YiuYiu 瑶瑶 (aka Rochelle Hoi-Yiu Kwan) is a cultural organizer, oral history educator, and DJ based on Lenape land in NYC's Manhattan Chinatown. She takes on her childhood name YiuYiu 瑶瑶 as an artist and DJ for Chinatown Records, a community effort to celebrate the breadth of music and history that comes with inherited family record collections. Alongside her family and neighbors, YiuYiu 瑶瑶 produces Chinatown block parties, sonic family histories, and listening sessions to foster intergenerational dancefloors and memories as powerful acts of resistance and resilience.
@rochellehkwan
Buckley Yung 翁百里 is a longtime music lover, starting with memories of music and records that his parents loved – many that then became among his favorites, alongside his own favorites too. Starting at the age of 13, he began searching out the latest direct-from-Hong Kong records in Boston’s Chinatown record stores. When he moved to New York to begin his first urban planning job after graduate school, he regularly frequented New York's Manhattan Chinatown – the mecca for record shopping on the east coast. Today, he spends his days enjoying the nearly 1,000 Chinese pop records scattered in every nook and corner of the home that he shares with his partner, Charlie. And with every record he brings home, he remembers those happy memories with his parents that started it all!
@thevinylbuck
Prisca Choe 최하연 is a multidisciplinary artist and production designer based in NYC’s Chinatown. Through plexiglass installations, film, and photography, her work explores the tension between conservation and transformation of culture especially for those who have the difficult task of navigating intersecting identities in the Asian Diaspora.
@priscachoe | priscachoe.com
Nonviolent Peaceforce is a global organization that provides protection for civilians in violent conflicts. We provide safety in countries such as Iraq, Myanmar, Philippines, South Sudan and many more. Here in the US, New York specifically, their work is centered around tackling anti-Asian hate. Learn more at nonviolentpeaceforce.org