Decoding the Colonial | NAPJ

Locally based interdisciplinary artists Lani Asunción and Joanna Tam will be presenting site-specific performances and creative interventions in partnership with Now + There. Responding to Lot Lab’s history and geography as a post-colonial military industrial shipyard that is adjacent to both the Boston Harbor waters and the Freedom Trail next to the USS Constitution Museum, Asunción and Tam’s projects are an extension of their ongoing explorations into the construction of national identity, safety, empowerment, and freedom in the wake of cultural and environmental oppression.

Lani Asunción’s SONG/LAND/SEA – Tabi Tabi Po ‘ May I Pass’ performance series speaks to the current climate crisis and how high tech industry developments simultaneously affect the North American East and West Coast both environmentally and culturally. This performance addresses the rapid advancement of climate change and serves as a warning and alarm. Augmented reality (AR) work will feature a visual score for kulintang gongs, voice, and synthesizers with field recordings of crows and humming birdsong, storms, and oceans.

Joanna Tam’s On Time and Water is inspired by the history and geographic location of the Charlestown Navy Yard on the Freedom Trail. Tam’s performance will examine the meaning of freedom and safety by using ephemeral site-specific water calligraphy and used safety vests, continuing a series of material explorations by the artist into notions of surveillance, visibility, and invisibility. Her work also examines the meaning of safety and one’s connection to a place in the wake of migration and displacement.