For Immediate Release
Lyman Allyn Art Museum presents SubUrbanisms: Casino Company Town/ China Town.
January 24, 2014
Lyman Allyn Art Museum
Press Contact: Jane LeGrow
860.443.2545 x126
Lyman Allyn Art Museum, in collaboration with Connecticut College, announces a new exhibition with a local focus and a global reach. SUB URBANISMS (February 8 – May 12, 2014) explores the controversial conversion of single family homes into multifamily communities by immigrant Chinese casino workers in southeastern Connecticut. By transplanting cultural values to their new country, these recent emigrants unconsciously challenge the norms underlying the most ubiquitous American housing type: the suburban single-family detached house. The exhibition invites visitors to reflect on the values, practices and public policies that determine how we live, and to consider how cultural expectations for building design might further change in response to growing ecological, financial and societal pressures.
Combining photography, interviews and architectural representations, this exhibit probes the limits of inclusivity in a multicultural democracy when cultural practices conflict. With creative implications for the future of housing design and habitation, SUB URBANISMS offers a powerful inquiry into the ways in which culture shapes our lives and our homes.
SUB URBANISMS is curated by Stephen Fan with Shane Keaney. Stephen Fan is an architectural designer and writer working at the intersections of architecture, art, design, craft, and planning. He has built projects on four continents, and holds a M. Arch from the Harvard GSD and an A.B. from Harvard College, where his scholarly work was awarded the Thomas Temple Hoopes prize.
On March 29th, Lyman Allyn Art Museum and Connecticut College will host a free, daylong public forum (10AM-4:30PM) entitled “Casino Urbanization, Suburban Chinatowns and the Contested Domestic Landscape.” The forum explores the proliferation of casinos in sub-urban areas and how immigrant casino workers and patrons may challenge the norms and values of American sub-urban life. Speakers with backgrounds in architecture, urban design, land use, anthropology, journalism and American Studies will address issues of assimilation, class and race through case studies in Connecticut, California, Pennsylvania and Louisiana. The forum invites the general public, community residents, academics and students to an open conversation of a local topic with national significance and a global reach.
Thanks to a grant from Connecticut Humanities, Lyman Allyn is able to offer this program that invites visitors to reflect on the values, practices and public policies that determine how we live, and to consider how cultural expectations for building design might further change in response to growing ecological, financial and societal pressures.
Tours of the exhibition are available for groups. To schedule tours, call Director of Education Mollie Clarke at 860-443-2545, x 110 or e-mail at [email protected].
SUB URBANISMS is generously supported by the Enders Exhibition Fund; Connecticut College; the Golden Palace Restaurant; Seward and Monde, Certified Public Accountants and Consultants; and People’s United Bank, sponsors of Free First Saturdays.
For more information or to request images, please contact Jane LeGrow at 860.443.2545, ext 136 or at [email protected]
Lyman Allyn Art Museum is a community-based museum located in New London, Connecticut. Founded in 1932 by Harriet Upson Allyn in memory of her father, Lyman Allyn, the museum serves the people of Southeastern Connecticut and is free to New London families. The museum is accredited by the American Association of Museums and is a non-profit organization with 501(c) 3 status. Housed in a handsome Neo- Classical building designed by Charles A. Platt, the permanent collection includes over10,000 paintings, drawings, prints, sculptures, furniture and decorative arts, with an emphasis on American and European art from the 17th through 20thcenturies.
The museum is located at 625 Williams Street, New London, Connecticut, exit 83 off I-95. The museum is open Tuesday through Saturday, 10:00 am – 5:00 pm and Sunday1:00 – 5:00 pm, closed Mondays and major holidays. For more information call860.443.2545, ext. 129 or visit us on the web at: www.lymanallyn.org.