Saltwater City is a research project led by Janet Wang and Gabe Wong, exploring the use of multi-sensorial media to create an immersive experience of Vancouver’s Chinatown.
“Smell is a system designed not to forget” – Trygg Engen
The Chinatown in Vancouver, B.C., historically nicknamed Saltwater City by the Chinese community, is facing cultural erasure under the threat of gentrifying development.
For this prototype exhibition, a rich sensorium of field recordings, diffused extractions of Chinese herbs, visualizations of the remaining traditional merchants in Chinatown and activated drawings aim to capture the lingering ghosts and possible futures of Saltwater City.
Please join us to celebrate the opening on January 29th. Light refreshments are provided.
With thanks to Charmaine Mah, Sonam Sandhu, Michelle Qu, Jonathan Tsang and Audrey Wang for their invaluable research assistance.
Created with the generous support of the British Columbia Arts Council and with a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council Institutional Grant through Emily Carr University of Art & Design.