Bridging the Gaps

So looking into these clubs i developed a diagram documenting the network of these asian clubs tracing from their own roots. The dotted lines were earlier relationships developed but then later disappeared. The solid lines are the current network that is being established. We can all learn about different cultures from each other, and instead of getting 'Americanised', it would be interesting to see the fusion of culture in different ways. It is important for everyone to realize its own roots and not let the culture dies.

Tap-tap-slide...

This type of dance is called Tinikling orginated from the Philippines. It involves people from both ends hitting bamboo poles, on the ground & against each other, in a rythum Tap, tap, slide.

On the bigggg day...we tried to set this activity up at around 8:00pm when there is more people during the event. At first, people were curious and is wondering if people are performing the dance in front of them, so they were a little anxious and they just stood on the side. So what we do is, we started to show some easy steps to them, and start asking them to be part of it.

People gets easily excited because they can take the challenge in different ways. For those who does not like dancing or do not know how to dance, they may just simply give a try, as long as their feet is trapped in the bamboo, but they didn't noticed the trick part of the song. The beat would always go faster and faster as the song proceeds. The growing beats seemed to be a challenge for them, but for some of them who managed to follow the beats, they started helping each other out.

The spirit is growing while the beat is getting faster! People who dances on the same poles began to help each other other out, they start to communicate and have more interactions! Some are trying to count the beat for the other, others are somehow holding hands to prevent from the other person getting cramped in the bamboos.

This is kind of rare occasion when people are sober but at the same time becomes very open about themselves. Americans may find it very normal with people holding hands, but 'holding hands' in public for asians' belief seemed to be something that people would not really do for the most part, even for people who are in a relationship. It is very good to see the Asians from different groups starting to interact, though everyone has very different traditions and rituals to follow in their own ethnicity.

However, everyone seemed to have a lot of fun and started improvising their steps, and here comes the creative part, and we're starting to see art, while seeing people experience, grow excited and be very creative, breaking down the barriers.

Planning: BrainSTORMING and Thought PROCESS

Ever since i came to RPI, i realized that there are different asian communities, however they don't seem to interact with each other at all. It may because of language barrier if the person cannot speak English well, while no longer be able to find another common language in between. It may also because of cultural traditions that segregate them from communicating. This is very disappointing since nobody is taking advantage of our diversified student body in RPI. I would love to create an activity that would create a higher level of interaction within these asian communities, break the barriers and experience Culture! Here is what I see ART in this project.

In the past years, we have been holding events for Asian Awareness Weekend every year. It mainly consists of the Night Market and the Asian Night. It is a good way to bring all the asian clubs together, but problem is, for Night Market, people are just buying and selling food; for asian night, each club put up their own performance. Afterall, it did not facilitate the whole idea of bringing a direct interaction in between all the asian clubs. Therefore, this year, i decided to make them do it!

Now it has to be something that doesn't require verbal language, in replacement of this, we can do body language! It also needs to be something relatively easy for them to pick up without too much effort, but at the same time be focused. Last but not least, it has to be something fun and easily motivated, so people will be a little lose about themselves and be willing to do it.

As a result, i decided to do Tinikling.

The world of public art

Everyone's is borne to be an artist :)