In 2017, the City of Edmonton removed the Harbin Gate, the traditional gateway to Chinatown. At the base of the gate were "Foo Dogs," or Lions -- traditional Chinese ornaments commonly used to mark gateways and entrances.
Invisible Gate is public art project that will be sited in Kinistinâw Park, near the old Chinatown gates. The new pair of sculptures are contemporary re-imaginings of those original Lions. The project returns this traditional symbol of the Chinatown community to the site, while also expanding the symbol to contain all the histories of all neighborhood communities who have intersected with it.
The artwork is being created by Canadian art collective Studio F Minus, with significant collaboration by The Edmonton Arts Council, and Edmonton artist Shawn Tse.
In the original artwork proposal document, we imagine the final artwork to look something like this:
Why Does it Look Like That?
The Lions are made of layers of transparent material. We think of these layers as the layers of an archaelogical dig: each community leaves a trace of its history through artifacts and objects, and all these traces organized themselves as layers set into the earth.
Invisible Gate will preserve objects contributed by members of the community by embedding them in the layers of this permanent sculpture. In this way, everyone leaves a mark on the site, and the monument celebrates the experiences, both common and exceptional, of the people here.
WHAT ARE WE ASKING FOR?
We’d like to take a digital record of a small (maximum 6” x 6” x 6”) artifact that is important to you. This artifact could symbolize a connection you have to the neighborhood, or it could be something of personal significance to you, or just simply something you like. And if you feel like it, please tell us something about it. Or tell us about yourself or about your neighborhood.
HOW WILL YOU DO THAT?
We won’t take, handle, or damage your items! We’re going to be going around the neighborhood with a simple phone rig that takes a 3D scan of your artifact. The process happens right in front of you, and only takes a couple of minutes, so we never take possession of your artifact and its never out of your sight. There is a microphone on our scanning machine so that if you’d like to tell a story, we can record it.
WHAT HAPPENS TO MY ARTIFACT?
We’ll use the 3D scanning data to make a replica of your object. Over 100 of these objects are going to be placed in the two lion sculptures, as in a time capsule. These artifacts, and the sculptures that contain them, will be permanent features of the Kinistinâw park.
As for the stories, we’re hoping to create an archive of the stories and images of the objects, possibly to be exhibited online at a later date. We won’t use any of your words without your permission.
Your artifacts shuld fit into the sculpture like this:
HOW DO I GET INVOLVED?
Ideally, we’ll come to you! Mitchell and Shawn are planning to visit some of the local businesses, organizations, and people in the Chinatown area in April and May. If you’d like us to come by your place to share with us, please let us know. We’ll be scheduling some more sessions soon, so stay tuned.
The Invisible Gate team will be at the following locations to scan artifacts for the sculpture. Show up and make your story a part of the artwork!
- Tuesday, May 21. 7-9pm. The Nook Cafe. Breath in Poetry Open Mic Night.
- Monday, May 27. 6pm. The Salvation Army.. Arts Night.
- Tuesday, May 28. 7-9pm. The Nook Cafe. Breath in Poetry Open Mic Night.
- Thursday, June 6. 1-3pm. Boyle Street Community Services. Bingo.
- Saturday, June 8. 1-4pm. Boyle Street Plaza. Edmonton Arts Council Public Art Picnic.
If you'd like to submit an artifact to the sculpture, or get involved in another way, contact Shawn Tse at: invisiblegateyeg@gmail.com
If you have any questions, contact Mitchell F Chan at: mitchell@studiofminus.com
You can learn more about Studio F Minus, the group of artists creating this artwork, at www.studiofminus.com
Our community engagement is built on the following principles:
- 1. A public artwork or monument is an expression of the values, communities, or ideologies that a broader culture chooses to preserve/monumentalize. "Invisible Gate" is a monument to the individuals and communities who live in, visit, or use the area around Kinistinâw Park.
- 2. The only criteria for inclusion in our project is the same criteria for inclusion in an archaeological record: geographic proximity to the site. Anyone who chooses to to participate may be acknowledged, counted and preserved by the artwork. If an individual's story takes place on our near Kinistinâw Park, it is eligible for inclusion.
- 2. Any person present is considered to be an equal contributor to history of this site in this given moment. Therefore any person person participating is equally eligible to be acknowldedged, counted, preserved, or monumentalized via the public artwork.
- 2. Any object, so long as it is chosen by a participant, is taken as valid representation of that person and their story.