Who holds the right to decide what gets remembered? Conversely, the right to forget? ChinaTOwn tells the forgotten stories, willful omissions, and accumulation of silences that exist beyond Toronto’s official heritage definition of its Chinatown neighbourhoods. The exhibition aims to put personal stories and individual memory in conversation with state-sanctioned narratives.
Each of the projects featured in ChinaTOwn explores what marginalized communities have known for some time—all that is written is not necessarily all that is, and what is remembered extends far beyond what is recorded. Through these exhibits we question:
• How does the city decide which voices and stories make it into official records?
• Who should the heritage of Toronto’s Chinatowns serve?
Through a conceptual exhibition, participatory storytelling events, a symposium and roundtable discussion, we seek to uncover untold stories and build a collective, intersectional vision for the future heritage(s) of Toronto’s Chinatowns. Participants in the exhibition include interior design students at Ryerson University led by Prof. Linda Zhang. Through a fourth-year design studio and a juried design competition, students were asked to incorporate community stories into their work. In doing so, each installation featured here reflects on their role, responsibility and agency as designers to protect the inhabitants and communities they design for.
唐人街项目 多伦多唐人街的未来遗产
谁有权决定要记住什么？反之，谁又有权决定要忘记什么？唐人街项目讲述了多伦多唐人街街区官方遗迹定义之外被遗忘的、有意遗漏的和沉寂的故事。展览旨在进行个人故事和
个人记忆与国家认可叙述之间的对话。
项目中的每个项目都探究了边缘化社区一段时间以来所知道的东西—所写的内容并不一定反映了全部，被铭记的内容远远超出了记录的范围。通过这些展览，我们质疑：
• 该市如何决定将哪些声音和故事纳入官方记录？
• 多伦多唐人街的遗产应该为谁服务？
通过概念展览、参与式讲故事活动、专题讨论会和圆桌讨论会，我们力求发现不为人知 的故事，并为多伦多唐人街的未来遗产树立一个集体的交互愿景。展览的参与者包括由 Linda Zhang教授领导的Ryerson University室内设计专业的学生。通过四年级的设计 工作室和评审设计大赛，要求学生将社区故事融入他们的作品中。为此，这里的每个艺术 装置（简称装置）都体现了他们作为设计师的角色、责任和作用，以保护他们为之设计的 居民和社区。
