https://mqqt.co mqqt Thu, 21 Sep 2023 15:26:54 +0000 https://mqqt.co en https://mqqt.co/home Wed, 30 Nov 2022 00:12:37 +0000 mqqt https://mqqt.co/home <img width="1066" height="1360" width_o="1066" height_o="1360" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/9ef29053b4222a853f4b922b0e02c124802dee64bb18f2e71427faf2c8f24081/6.6.22_JR-s-flowers.png" data-mid="160555139" border="0" data-scale="35" data-no-zoom src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/9ef29053b4222a853f4b922b0e02c124802dee64bb18f2e71427faf2c8f24081/6.6.22_JR-s-flowers.png" /> studio mqqt is a public art + design workshop by Melissa 青 Teng, where we explore public art&nbsp;as the freedom to move + freedom to be, and public design as how we move, collaborate, strategize in the face of public crises and planetary emergency https://mqqt.co/about Thu, 06 May 2021 20:56:17 +0000 mqqt https://mqqt.co/about Melissa Q. Teng is a social practice artist, designer, researcher, and writer living on the ancestral lands of the Massa-adchu-es-et and Pawtucket peoples. Her work often collaboratively explores notions of public safety as belonging and public service as presence. Working across neighborhoods, institutions, and infrastructures, she is always interested in how people come together to bend the world around them. Her work often explores home, displacement, and belonging, with a particular focus on housing, homelessness, and prisons. Her practice is theoretically informed by urban humanities, critical design studies, participatory design and participatory action research. Melissa's work has been generously supported by the Collective Futures Fund, the New England Foundation for the Arts, the Sasaki Foundation, the Kresge Foundation, MIT's Public Service Center, the City of Boston, and more. Her research about media, design process, crisis and care has been published in Big Data &amp; Society, MIT Thresholds, New Media &amp; Society, the proceedings of Human Factors in Computing Systems (ACM SIGCHI), and the International Journal of Human–Computer Interaction. Her work as a UX/visual/data designer has been recognized by the Webby’s, Kantar’s Information Is Beautiful, Awwwards, FastCompany’s World Changing Ideas, the New York Times, and others. You can find her&nbsp;CV here. UpdatesI’m thrilled to have my essay Between Fires published in this year’s Thresholds Journal. It’s about care and witnessing during overlapping crises, dedicated to my best friend and with thanks to the wonderful Garnette Cadogan. Grateful to be part of a civic design + art + research collective called See You in the Future with my friends / teachers George Halfkenny, Sabrina Dorsainvil, and Steve Walter. We’re honored to have our work-in-progress highlighted in a special issue of the Boston Art Review, in collaboration with the Collective Futures Fund (CFF). This was extra special because I got to be interviewed by my friend Matthew Okazaki for it.Following the advice of a wise friend and mentor, Rashin Fahandej, I’ve been protecting my creative time and enjoying learning about video and audio production. I revisited an old video about my maternal grandparents to help me process and grieve. I shared it with my mom, and I’d love to share it with you.I am honored to design a collage for Catherine D’Ignazio’s new book, Counting Feminicide: Data Feminism in Action. https://mqqt.co/cv Tue, 21 Jul 2020 16:02:18 +0000 mqqt https://mqqt.co/cv Born in Chengdu, ChinaLives in Boston, Massachusetts Education Master of City PlanningMIT,&nbsp;School of Architecture + PlanningCambridge, MA M.A. in Civic Media: Art and PracticeEmerson College,&nbsp;School of CommunicationBoston, MA B.A. in EconomicsRice University,&nbsp;School of Social SciencesHouston, TX Work Experience PresentArtist + Researcher, See You in the Future CollectiveFreelance Designer + Writer, studio mqqt 2023-2025Design Research Lead, Design Studio for Social Intervention 2023Artist-in-Residence, Participatory Action Research, Mayor’s Office of Arts &amp; Culture, City of Boston (2022-23)Research Assistant, Data + Feminism Lab, MIT 2022 VR Production Designer, Choose Your Own Resistance, Columbia University with Rob Eschmann and Barry Pousman Instructor, City Lab, Boston Architectural College Teaching Assistant, S941 Werewolves, Wanderers, and Laborers: The City at Night with Garnette Cadogan, MIT 2021 Art Director, Feminist Future(s) Hackathon, MIT Media Lab Research Assistant, Memory Atlas of Repair, with Delia Wendel and Tyler Rivera 2018 - 2020 Civic Designer, Engagement Lab 2019 Adjunct Faculty, Emerson College 2015 - 2017Design Lead, Datawheel Gallery Lead, EMW Community Space 2014 Interactive Developer + Information Architect, Publicis.Sapient Group Exhibitions 2022 Intergenerational Storytelling, part of New Narratives, Pao Arts Center Boston New Works Festival, hosted by Moonbox Productions, Boston Center For the Arts 2021 CORES, Digital Soup x 3rdWavvE, Black Math, Boston, MA. Unbounded: Transmedia Storytelling @ MIT 2019-2021, MIT Jerome B. Wiesner Student Art Gallery, Cambridge, MA. 2020 New Narratives: Reclaiming Asian Identity Through Story, Unbound Visual Arts, Virtual Exhibition Gallery. if we want it, Art on the Marquee, Boston CyberArts Gallery, Boston, MA (collaboration with Sopheak Sam). 2019 You must not stand in one place, Distillery Gallery, Boston, MA * (collaboration with Sopheak Sam) 2018 s(t)imulacrum, Emerging Media Lab, Emerson College Mosaic of Silence, Huret &amp; Spector Gallery, Emerson College 2017 Culturalizing Science: Bio Art, EMW Gallery, Cambridge, MA * (collaboration with Hongye Wu) 2016 thick’ums, EMW Gallery, Cambridge, MA * (collaboration with Hongye Wu) Nowhere to Call Home, EMW Gallery, Cambridge, MA * (collaboration with Hongye Wu) The People First!, EMW Gallery, Cambridge, MA * (collaboration with Hongye Wu) 2015 Lives Not Numbers, EMW Gallery, Cambridge, MA * (collaboration with Hongye Wu) * indicates curatorial project Invited Talks, Panels and Workshops 2022 Presenter, Queer-Feminist-Antiracism + Design for the Future, Space Enabled research group, MIT Media Lab Talkback, Found In Translation: A Deal 杂音 by Zhu Yi, co-directed by Michelle Aguillon and Tianding He, Pao Arts Center 2021 Panelist, Radical Love Across Difference, Consortium for Graduate Studies in Gender, Culture, Women, &amp; Sexuality 2020 Speaker, School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Tufts University 2019 Speaker, Dynamic Media Institute, Massachusetts College of Art and Design Speaker, Center for Advanced Virtuality, Massachusetts Institute of Technology Panelist, ACM SIGCHI, CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems Panelist, Boston Area Research Initiative, “The Smart, Connected Commonwealth: Data-Driven Research and Policy Across the Region” Conference Panelist, Emerging Media Graduate Conference, Boston University Session Host, Games for Change, XR For Change Summit Selected Honors &amp; Awards 2023Request For Innovation Finalist, Boston Society for Architecture (BSA).Public Art for Spatial Justice,&nbsp;New England Foundation for the Arts (NEFA). 2022 Mel King Thesis Fellowship from the Kresge Foundation, Dept of Urban Studies + Planning, MIT.&nbsp; Design Grant, Sasaki Foundation.Collective Imagination for Spatial Justice, New England Foundation for the Arts (NEFA). 2021 New Work Grant, Collective Futures Fund, Tufts University Art Galleries &amp; The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts. Collaborative Production Grant with Lily Xie,&nbsp;MIT Transmedia Storytelling Initiative. Priscilla King Gray Fellow (Summer, Winter),&nbsp;MIT. 2020 Priscilla King Gray Fellow (Winter),&nbsp;MIT. 2019 President’s Citation, Emerson College. 2018 Summer Institute Fellow,&nbsp;Tisch College of Civic Life, Tufts University. 2017 Winner in Government &amp; Civil Innovation; Nominee in Technical Achievement, The Webby Awards. 2016 Gold in Commercial Projects, Information is Beautiful, Kantar.Finalist in Graphic Design &amp; Data Visualization, Innovation By Design, FastCoDesign. Writing “Between Fires,” Thresholds 2023, (51): 26–29.&nbsp;https://doi.org/10.1162/thld_a_00786.“Therapeutic virtual reality in prison: Participatory design with incarcerated women.” New Media &amp; Society 2021, 23(8): 2210–2229.&nbsp;https://doi.org/10.1177/1461444821993131. With Eric Gordon. "Participatory design of a virtual reality-based reentry training with a women's prison," Extended Abstracts of the 2019 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems 2019, 1-8. https://doi.org/10.1145/3290607.3299050. With&nbsp;James Hodge and Eric Gordon. Press Leveraging Art and Storytelling to Reinterpret a Location of Crisis https://mqqt.co/consulting Tue, 16 Jun 2020 03:57:36 +0000 mqqt https://mqqt.co/consulting I am currently not taking design commissions. Design is my passion and I love learning its contours through new collaborations and freelance work. Here are freelance services I offer:Art direction + brand strategyGraphic design + illustrationWebsite design + development (on Wordpress, Squarespace, Cargo)Data storytelling + visualizationCreative research + design research (specialized in critical design)Design strategy + facilitation (specialized in community-engaged participatory design)Project management Approach &amp; PricingI care about building meaningful and accessible collaborations with my clients and your audiences. I like to work with my clients to understand your desires, build a reliable project infrastructure (process, budget, communication norms), and create vibrant, deeply useful, and beautiful work that we can be proud of. I offer a sliding scale and do a number of projects yearly for non-monetary compensation. Let’s talk. Previous Work Washing 洗作“Hear the Stories,” a digital storytelling website to archive community conversations recorded during the Washing project. - I worked with artist Lily Xie to create illustrations and animations.- I led the project brainstorm, creation of wireframes, to implementation on a custom Squarespace website. <img width="800" height="454" width_o="800" height_o="454" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/5eec73202501f12ea5afcdc462c237549801d1f598b1cc286c407e76fe967625/trimmed-web-recording.gif" data-mid="191268667" border="0" data-no-zoom src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/800/i/5eec73202501f12ea5afcdc462c237549801d1f598b1cc286c407e76fe967625/trimmed-web-recording.gif" /> MIT Transmedia Storytelling Initiative 3D/5G: Surveillance and Agency,&nbsp;Eventbrite- I created an illustration and designed the event poster.<img width="2400" height="2400" width_o="2400" height_o="2400" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/522b566a5d321d2860f7ca83f1ba637411ba314e7dc178a9472fb3c28f229396/Square-an2.2.gif" data-mid="191266028" border="0" data-no-zoom src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/522b566a5d321d2860f7ca83f1ba637411ba314e7dc178a9472fb3c28f229396/Square-an2.2.gif" /> MIT Open Documentary Lab- I led the design process from brainstorm to creating high-fidelity wireframes and visual branding, to final implementation on Wordpress. This also included migration of previous website data and creating documentation to help the ODL maintain the website. XR @ ODL - live website <img width="800" height="454" width_o="800" height_o="454" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/71f5f3d9cfa53822db2da3a6374cf664bfb0368539c12d2052e5b6822daa51de/xr-trimmed-recording_800px.gif" data-mid="191277064" border="0" data-no-zoom src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/800/i/71f5f3d9cfa53822db2da3a6374cf664bfb0368539c12d2052e5b6822daa51de/xr-trimmed-recording_800px.gif" /> MIT Open Documentary Lab website - live website<img width="800" height="460" width_o="800" height_o="460" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/93dced19059e7582dc8b3a2aeaf6f44ec4d86a632b003488bf0e809719a675cd/trimmed-recording-2.gif" data-mid="191270847" border="0" data-no-zoom src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/800/i/93dced19059e7582dc8b3a2aeaf6f44ec4d86a632b003488bf0e809719a675cd/trimmed-recording-2.gif" /> MIT Civic Data Design LabMain CDDL website - live website - I led the design process from brainstorm, to making wireframes, to implementation on a custom Cargo site. This included migration of previous website data and documentation for maintenance. <img width="800" height="454" width_o="800" height_o="454" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/3a9728e89716767658754d4cf144fb2242c598f6573e1f458f8cfb89c9a401a2/trim-screen-recording.gif" data-mid="191276925" border="0" data-no-zoom src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/800/i/3a9728e89716767658754d4cf144fb2242c598f6573e1f458f8cfb89c9a401a2/trim-screen-recording.gif" /> https://mqqt.co/contact-mentoring Thu, 21 Sep 2023 15:26:54 +0000 mqqt https://mqqt.co/contact-mentoring <img width="1695" height="1607" width_o="1695" height_o="1607" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/b7bc02e444089b70c0e6957ab4eceb55fa9003b4ef92b961bb119033e3e74cdd/12.13.22_worlds.png" data-mid="202821324" border="0" data-scale="71" data-no-zoom data-draggable alt="illustration of one simple figure leading another towards floating islands, each with different people doing different things on them" data-caption="illustration of one simple figure leading another towards floating islands, each with different people doing different things on them" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/b7bc02e444089b70c0e6957ab4eceb55fa9003b4ef92b961bb119033e3e74cdd/12.13.22_worlds.png" /> A drawing from my artist residency at the City of Boston. It shows how internal City partners could help their artist partners understand and navigate Boston’s city government as a social ecosystem, or a world of many worlds, rather than see it as the inert monolith of “government”. Contactstudio.mqqt at gmail dot com MentoringCivic work is very meaningful and very odd. If I may be able to support your journey, professionally or otherwise, please don’t hesitate to reach out or cold email (and please follow up if I don’t respond in a week). I especially welcome messages from BIPOC folks and women. Mentors have made all the difference for me, and it’s a joy to pay this forward. 🌞 https://mqqt.co/if-we-want-it Wed, 12 May 2021 18:57:07 +0000 mqqt https://mqqt.co/if-we-want-it 2020 if we want it Collaboration with Sopheak Sam, with linh-phương vũ, Lucky Li / 李乐言, Luisina Pozzo Ardizzi, Melice Lopes, Sybille Gorneille. Public multi-channel video installation, HD color; 00:30 seconds, approx. 80 ft x 24 ft.Commissioned and curated by the Boston CyberArts Gallery. In popular U.S. media, “survival” often means winning at the expense of others, whether that be other humans, non-humans, collectives, or worlds. This drive to conquer and colonize echoes Western philosophers during the Enlightenment who framed Nature as something for Man to tame and master. Desires to administer our planet at scale have resulted in pollution, mass extinction and migration, and climate change, diminishing our very likelihood of survival.In this work titled if we want it, we share Anna Lowenhaupt Tsing’s framing of survival as collaboration. Tsing writes: “... staying alive—for every species—requires livable collaborations. Collaboration means working across difference, which leads to contamination” (2016). In this spirit, the piece collages together examples of symbiosis: a polyculture farm, coral reef ecosystem, impala and red-billed oxpecker, surfer and ocean. <img width="1080" height="720" width_o="1080" height_o="720" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/f385edcd5379800f54f9d13cfef89dd881c04f423f9903e95d3c200100cb04f1/_MG_9918.jpeg" data-mid="129170988" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/f385edcd5379800f54f9d13cfef89dd881c04f423f9903e95d3c200100cb04f1/_MG_9918.jpeg" /> if we want it, 2020. Installation view, Art on the Marquee (31st Round; curated by Boston CyberArts), Boston Convention and Exhibition Center. Photo by Mel Taing. © Melissa Teng/Sopheak Sam Formally, we are inspired by Yoko Ono and John Lennon’s “WAR IS OVER (if you want it)” billboard campaign (1969), in which they aimed to commodify and sell peace, co-opting the language of politicians, companies, and celebrities. At the top of our piece, a running marquee advertises “Survival is collaboration.” in the 6 most common languages of Boston Public Schools: English, Spanish, Haitian Creole, Cape Verdean Creole, Cantonese, and Vietnamese. Each translator works their own meaning into this phrase (“Everyone is treated like family.” / “You can’t do it alone.” / “Life engages in cooperation with the earth.”), sometimes consulting parents or friends. Through this process, translations become an exercise in drawing worlds together. In contrast, we write if we want it near the bottom only in English, the top global business language ranked by the International Monetary Fund in 2018, to question who is included and excluded in the “we” who can influence major decisions affecting our survival. On view Boston Convention and Exhibition Center, 415 Summer St, Boston, MA, June 24 – October 1, 2020Links ↗ Public Art Commission for “Art on the Marquee” Round 31 ↗ Link to Video Simulation <img width="1080" height="720" width_o="1080" height_o="720" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/a73abc0c16d69327ecb2952238c50cfe8de3403d8612580aa4dbc2d37acd4e6d/IMG_7240.jpeg" data-mid="129170990" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/a73abc0c16d69327ecb2952238c50cfe8de3403d8612580aa4dbc2d37acd4e6d/IMG_7240.jpeg" /><img width="1080" height="1620" width_o="1080" height_o="1620" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/3db75ce4715515e5323ad93c987831dc3310914224b871b95ab9bebe2c97a4a1/IMG_7203.jpeg" data-mid="129170989" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/3db75ce4715515e5323ad93c987831dc3310914224b871b95ab9bebe2c97a4a1/IMG_7203.jpeg" /><img width="1080" height="720" width_o="1080" height_o="720" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/cf321d138e50d6f66cb3bdfff24a29721e02340a2c19a9e55b1a44a56dfdc25a/IMG_7274.jpeg" data-mid="129170991" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/cf321d138e50d6f66cb3bdfff24a29721e02340a2c19a9e55b1a44a56dfdc25a/IMG_7274.jpeg" />Image Credits “CLOWNFISH and Anemone,” 2018. Ocean Pictures, YouTube. Lukasz Szlachta 2017/2018. License CC-BY-SA 3.0 Unported.“THE ULTIMATE LIGHTNING STORM - In Slow Motion,” 2017. Pecos Hank, YouTube.“Image of Messier 78 captured with a telescope at the La Silla Observatory.” Photo. European Southern Observatory (ESO)/Igor Chekalin, 2011. License CC-BY 4.0 International.“Xerophytes: Cardón cacti in the Baja California Desert, Cataviña region, Mexico.” Photo. Tomas Castelazo, 2003. License CC-BY-SA 2.5 Generic.“Madagascar well.” Photo. Anlace at the English language Wikipedia, 2006. License CC-BY-SA 3.0 Unported.“Bear predation on salmon can be high in many Alaskan rivers.” Photo. Mark Wipfli, Alaska Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit, 2006. Public domain.“Slo-Mo Footage of a Bumble Bee Dislodging Pollen,” 2016. Smithsonian Channel, YouTube.“A variety of corals form an outcrop on Flynn Reef, part of the Great Barrier Reef near Cairns, Queensland, Australia.” Photo. Toby Hudson, 2010. License CC-BY-SA 3.0 Unported.“Fishes Near Coral Reef.” Photo. Francesco Ungaro, 2019. Public Domain.“Jungle Waterfall - mindfulness, ambience, relaxing, meditation, nature,” 2018. Relaxation Windows 4K Nature, YouTube.“Grass blowing in the wind,” 2009. NigelIsNotAsMadAsYou, YouTube. Creative Commons Attribution license (reuse allowed).“City Trees and Clouds with clean wind sound effect,” 2018. Time Lapse, YouTube. Creative Commons Attribution license (reuse allowed).“Amanita muscaria.” Photo. Onderwijsgek [Wiki user], 2012. License CC-BY-SA 3.0 Netherlands.Mushroom Photo. Unknown photographer [pxhere.com], 2017 [uploaded]. Public Domain.“A garbage heap in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.” Jacques Nkinzingabo for The New York Times.“BIG WAVE SURFING COMPILATION,” 2017. Absolutely Flawless, YouTube.“Farm areas just outside Chainpur, Bajhang District, Nepal.” Photo. Jason Houston for USAID, 2017. Public Domain.“Female Impala (Aepyceros melampus) with red-billed oxpecker (Buphagus erythrorynchus), Kruger National Park, South Africa.” Photo. Diego Delso, 2018, delso.photo, License CC-BY-SA.“Reed warbler raising the young of a common cuckoo.” Photo. Per Harald Olsen, 2007. License CC-BY-SA 3.0 Unported. https://mqqt.co/paradise-scarring Wed, 12 May 2021 19:15:07 +0000 mqqt https://mqqt.co/paradise-scarring 2021 Paradise (Scarring) Digital animation (ongoing) James Baldwin noted that “some people wish to colonize the moon, [while] others dance before it as an ancient friend.” Scarring plays out the logic of capital, which asks: How much planetary scarring is worth it to ensure our survival? Taken further: If you don’t have scars, are you even living?An industrial disaster unfolds endlessly on loop, in an attempt to prompt the view, What is living if we, water, and land are too poisoned to dance? <img width="1920" height="1080" width_o="1920" height_o="1080" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/e7ab5c002bb3102c0f638944cf7c1ffc4a02f9105ca9567f0841342d27f540dc/Scarring_-assets.jpg" data-mid="125184762" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/e7ab5c002bb3102c0f638944cf7c1ffc4a02f9105ca9567f0841342d27f540dc/Scarring_-assets.jpg" /><img width="1920" height="1080" width_o="1920" height_o="1080" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/afe1113baa81abdccd192ac40234a535956e6737731a81de63c56ceb0734458a/Scarring-2.jpg" data-mid="125184910" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/afe1113baa81abdccd192ac40234a535956e6737731a81de63c56ceb0734458a/Scarring-2.jpg" /> <img width="1920" height="1080" width_o="1920" height_o="1080" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/d9029c2011b4c3c67e24e327ee3c005ed54867af31aaf21c0da8232a3900a699/Scarring-3.jpg" data-mid="125184911" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/d9029c2011b4c3c67e24e327ee3c005ed54867af31aaf21c0da8232a3900a699/Scarring-3.jpg" /><img width="1920" height="1080" width_o="1920" height_o="1080" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/c60da4be32a8281c2566113219492ca7f22e8f2f579ab7e114a6bb5a8a351f43/Scarring-4.jpg" data-mid="125184912" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/c60da4be32a8281c2566113219492ca7f22e8f2f579ab7e114a6bb5a8a351f43/Scarring-4.jpg" /> Animation stills. On view CORES, organized by Digital Soup and 3rdWavvE at Black Math, Nov. 20, 2021. https://mqqt.co/paradise-wearing Thu, 06 Jan 2022 00:05:34 +0000 mqqt https://mqqt.co/paradise-wearing 2021 Paradise (Wearing) Performance Paradise (Wearing) is a performance about braiding personal belongings and found waste into the body, recognizing how adornment of places and bodies has historically been used to intimately and spiritually connect with our place in the world.&nbsp;I also meditate on the politics of often feminized and private labor involved in care and aesthetics.<img width="3584" height="1970" width_o="3584" height_o="1970" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/a0b9f5df3eea929414a8fb7f1c610d4b3e6cf6c32280eb525b2893bed755f69f/Screen-Shot-2021-05-07-at-5.37.19-PM.png" data-mid="129169589" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/a0b9f5df3eea929414a8fb7f1c610d4b3e6cf6c32280eb525b2893bed755f69f/Screen-Shot-2021-05-07-at-5.37.19-PM.png" /><img width="3584" height="1972" width_o="3584" height_o="1972" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/82ac0334fffa6c9ceebdcf2754fad6de9e7e957c82fc2eb100eb06840bda60b2/Screen-Shot-2021-05-07-at-5.38.25-PM.png" data-mid="129169590" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/82ac0334fffa6c9ceebdcf2754fad6de9e7e957c82fc2eb100eb06840bda60b2/Screen-Shot-2021-05-07-at-5.38.25-PM.png" /><img width="3582" height="1821" width_o="3582" height_o="1821" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/c115cc5181e4a5bda0892db4fd1b2ac4e90e7e91a2d082c4b48876bce71a36d1/Screen-Shot-2021-05-07-at-5.32.27-PM.png" data-mid="129169588" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/c115cc5181e4a5bda0892db4fd1b2ac4e90e7e91a2d082c4b48876bce71a36d1/Screen-Shot-2021-05-07-at-5.32.27-PM.png" /> On viewinPUBLIC Festival 2021, Boston Downtown, Design Studio for Social Intervention.CORES, organized by Digital Soup and 3rdWavvE at Black Math, Nov. 20, 2021. https://mqqt.co/paradise-watching Mon, 31 Oct 2022 19:43:18 +0000 mqqt https://mqqt.co/paradise-watching 2021 Paradise (Watching) Performance Paradise (Watching) is a performance about surveillance understood as an anxious form of care. When does desire to watch someone—be it family or stranger—become surveillance?I am interested in understanding the spaces where care feels like love and where care feels like an attempt to control.<img width="3584" height="2240" width_o="3584" height_o="2240" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/d8b3f5adb225306e49a80f875e880925aadbc4ed2f339472c2a1e3517250649b/Paradise-III_Still.jpg" data-mid="157503528" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/d8b3f5adb225306e49a80f875e880925aadbc4ed2f339472c2a1e3517250649b/Paradise-III_Still.jpg" /> Performance still https://mqqt.co/paradise-flooding Sat, 08 Jan 2022 23:41:11 +0000 mqqt https://mqqt.co/paradise-flooding 2021 Paradise (Flooding) Performance Paradise (Flooding) is a performance about the visible and invisible labor of care and the intimate politics of bodies in spaces hidden from public view. Chinese women are stereotyped as disposable, cheap, and silent labor that services the bodies of dominant culture: restaurants, cleaners, nail salons. The afternoon before sharing this performance, a white 21-year-old American man was heard saying, “I’m going to kill all Asians,” inside Gold Massage Spa, Atlanta. He had already purchased a gun and killed 8 people in 3 spas that day.I bought a pair of $2 house slippers a few years. One of the plastic straps snapped and I taped the two pieces together. I washed them in a porcelain bowl I usually save for nice meals. I wanted to sit with the labor that immigrants perform to maintain the objects that anchor their ways of living. That is, the objects that make up their personal forms of paradise within an unwelcoming and perpetually foreign land.“…[T]he act of imagination is bound up with memory,” wrote Toni Morrison in an essay called The Site of Memory. “You know, they straightened out the Mississippi River in places, to make room for houses and livable acreage. Occasionally the river floods these places. ‘Floods’ is the word they use, but in fact it is not flooding; it is remembering. Remembering where it used to be. All water has a perfect memory and is forever trying to get back to where it was.” I know that memories are travelers and, like many travelers, they resist containment. Over 24 minutes, the water in the bowl gets dirtier and spills out—an ephemeral memory of cleaning a worn object. <img width="3584" height="2240" width_o="3584" height_o="2240" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/989f2f2b0c6b59c4f321b8450aab84c2a129390ba362b1de991cf585cbb633b3/Paradise-I_Still.png" data-mid="129488157" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/989f2f2b0c6b59c4f321b8450aab84c2a129390ba362b1de991cf585cbb633b3/Paradise-I_Still.png" /> Performance still.