The Biennial Project, Marco Castro, Eric Doeringer, Fan Letters (Alex Nathanson + Dylan Neely), Sunita Prasad, Joshua Caleb Wiebley, Ariel Abrahams + Rony Efrat, Magali Duzant, Keith Hartwig + Daniel Newman, Heather Kapplow, Seth Timothy Larson + Abigail Entsminger, Manuel Molina Martagon, Kristoffer Ørum, Ruth Patir, Pines / Palms (Emily Ensminger + Sophie Trauberman), Jonah Levy, Roopa Vasudevan, Tereza Szwanda, Documentarian: Bryan Chang

Boston Partners: Atlantic Works Gallery (Hosted by Anna Salmeron), Make Shift Space

PHILADELPHIA:

Michael Barraco, Chloë Bass, Adam Milner, Marjan Verstappen + Jessica Valentin, Meg Wiessner, Joshua Caleb Wiebley, Ariel Abrahams + Rony Efrat, Magali Duzant, Keith Hartwig + Daniel Newman, Seth Timothy Larson + Abigail Entsminger, Manuel Molina Martagon, Kristoffer Ørum Ruth Patir, Pines / Palms (Emily Ensminger + Sophie Trauberman), Jonah Levy, Roopa Vasudevan, Tereza Szwanda, Documentarian: Alex Nathanson

Philadelphia Partners: Asian Arts Initiative (Hosted by Nancy Chen) , R.F. Kampfer Revolutionary Literature Archive (Hosted by Bradley Duncan), Space 1026 (Hosted by Jacqueline Quinn) ,Vox Populi (Hosted by Bree Pickering)

BALTIMORE:

Dillon De Give, Ursula Nistrup, Kristoffer Ørum, Ariel Abrahams + Rony Efrat, Fan Letters (Alex Nathanson + Dylan Neely), Magali Duzant, Keith Hartwig + Daniel Newman, Seth Timothy Larson + Abigail Entsminger, Manuel Molina Martagon, Ruth Patir, Pines / Palms (Emily Ensminger + Sophie Trauberman), Kristoffer Ørum, Jonah Levy, Roopa Vasudevan, Tereza Szwanda, Documentarian: Alex Nathanson

Baltimore Partners: Current Space Gallery (hosted by Michael Benevento + Andrew Liang)

Lead Organizer + Co-Curator:

Will Owen: Will.e.owen@gmail.com

828.226.6083

Co-Curators:

Matthias Borello: MatthiasBorello@gmail.com

Sally Szwed: Sally.o.szwed@gmail.com

In March 2016, Flux will commission 25 US-based and international artists / artist groups to create site-specific works for three Chinatown bus routes in the North-Eastern United States for the inaugural Fung Wah Biennial. During trips to Boston, Philadelphia, and Baltimore artists will share performances, projections, sound-works, web-based projects, and other social interventions that amplify experiences or tease out the nuanced politics of transit.

On each Saturday in March, a bus will depart from NYC to venture to a new city and back. Artists were invited to create works in response to the history and infrastructure of these particular bus lines, as well as the physical and emotional experience of travel. Some works look at transit through the lens of leisure, or challenge its banality and isolation, while others contend with migration as an act of necessity or survival. The works will be presented on the bus while en route to and from their respective destinations, as well as on the ground in each city. The audience will comprise of mostly knowing Fung Wah Biennial exhibition participants, however it may also include those who are simply traveling on each selected bus (i.e. innocent bystanders).

The impetus for this exhibition is three-fold: The impending migration of most emerging art spaces in New York City due to increasing cost of living; The experience of travel whether for leisure or out of necessity; The incredible, inexpensive network of buses between Chinatowns in the Northeastern U.S. and beyond, and especially honoring the closure of the original company in 2015, Fung Wah Bus line.

Select Projects:

In Roopa Vasudevan’s “eMOTION Mapping” passengers’ varied emotional states, typically internalized, become collected and visualized on a web-based map designed by the artist.
A trip to the bathroom may ask one to consider the meaning of permanent residency status, while washing away labels associated with it embossed on Tereza Swanda’s hand cast soaps.
Weary travelers are treated to customized comforts found in seat-pocket travel kits tailored especially for each bus journey by Pines // Palms (Emily Entsminger and Sophie Trauberman), while Marjan Verstappen’s “Fung Wah Onboard Service” allows passengers to taste the topography rolling by outside the windows through her specially created snack menu.
Reminding us of the legacy of artists inspired by travelling between cities in the northeast, Eric Doeringer will revisit artist Douglas Huebler’s cartographic exploration of two cities by recreating his 1968 artwork “Boston – New York Exchange Shape” during the Fung Wah Biennial’s Boston leg.
In the “The Legend of Buspar” Abigail Entsminger and Seth Timothy Larson will translate an epic, multi-act saga of forced urban migration and transformation into a miniature theatrical production staged in two seats at the rear of the bus.

Full list of participating artists:

Michael Barraco, Chloë Bass, The Biennial Project, Marco Castro, Eric Doeringer, Dillon De Give, Magali Duzant, Ariel Abrahams + Rony Efrat, Seth Larson and Abigail Entsminger, Jonah Levy, Fan Letters, Manuel Molina Martagon, Adam Milner, Heather Kapplow, Keith Hartwig + Daniel Newman, Ursula Nistrup, Kristoffer Ørum, Ruth Patir, Sunita Prasad, Tereza Swanda, Emily Ensminger + Sophie Trauberman, Roopa Vasudevan, Marjan Verstappen + Jessica Valentin, Joshua Caleb Weibley, and Meg Wiessner.

Documentarians: Bryan Chang, Alex Nathanson, Jason Eppink

In each city Fung Wah Biennial will partner with local art and cultural spaces for lectures and tours to get to know better our neighboring city centers and their creative output. Our current partners include: Current Space (Baltimore), Space 1026 (Philadelphia), Vox Populi (Philadelphia), Atlantic Works Gallery (Boston), and more to be announced. The last week of the month will culminate in an exhibition held in the Flux Factory gallery, 6pm Friday March 25th, 2016 showing both documentation and replication of works from the month’s travels.

Will Owen, organizer and co-curator of Fung Wah Biennial states, “The Fung Wah Biennial was an idea now taken a little too far. We’re essentially creating a series of gallery exhibitions on chinatown buses– while traveling between cities in the Northeast with artist interventions, snacks, and all the joys and frustrations of a regular gallery opening, but traveling at 70 miles per hour.”

Additional Public Events: