Date: January 6, 2012
Contact: John Cunnane, 415-561-7049
Contact: Rene Yung, 415-648-1302
Free Public Event Will Present Important Overlooked Folk Memories
Sunday, February 5, 2012, 3:00 to 5:00 pm aboard the 1890 Eureka at Hyde Street Pier
San Francisco - In honor of Chinese New Year, Chinese Whispers in partnership with the San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park, will present a unique workshop reading aboard the historic ferryboat Eureka on February 5th from 3:00 to 5:00 p.m. This special preview excerpt from Chinese Whispers: Golden Gate, created by artist Rene Yung, will highlight contemporary folk memories about the maritime context of the Chinese immigrants who came through the Bay Area during the early American West. This free, accessible program is appropriate for all ages.
The multimedia event will include accounts by community members and proxy tellers, facilitated audience story circles led by cultural blogger and author Arlene Goldbard, and a short discussion with Yung and collaborating sound artist Jeremiah Moore. The production is part of Chinese Whispers, a multi-site community storytelling project about the Chinese who helped build the Transcontinental Railroad, mines, and Frontier settlements. A pilot production was presented in the Sierra Nevada Foothills in 2009.
Artist Rene Yung created and directs Chinese Whispers. A native of Hong Kong, Yung is an internationally exhibiting artist, designer and writer. Her cross-disciplinary works articulate the hidden and the overlooked by connecting community, history and place to address social and cultural issues. She has exhibited at venues including TransCulture, part of the 46th Venice Biennale, and has developed numerous community-engagement public projects nationally.
To learn more about Chinese Whispers, a multi-phase project engaging communities at different sites from California to Utah to recount stories they have heard about early Chinese pioneers, please visit www.chinese-whispers.org
San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park includes a fleet of historic ships, the Maritime Museum, a Visitor Center, the Aquatic Park Historic District, and a maritime library. The Eureka is a wooden-hulled, sidewheel paddle steamboat built in 1890. The park offers both regular programs and special events. For more information, call 415-447-5000 or visit the park's website at https://www.nps.gov/safr.
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