From Letters to Words to Dialogue

On October 10th at 6:30 pm, AAAinA will feature presentations and a discussion with arts collectives and . Founding members of each group will share recent and upcoming projects as well as the origins and ethos of their platforms. Presentations will follow a loose framework of thinking through larger themes via connection points between letters, characters, words, and dialogue. Following the presentations, participants will join together for a conversation to discuss independent publishing, creative translation(s), cross cultural dialogue and more. The panel will be moderated by designer, publisher, and educator, Scarlett Meng.

Bios:

Radical Characters is an educational and curatorial platform dedicated to exploring speculative connections between design and culture within and beyond the Chinese and Chinese American communities. Founded by Mary Y. Yang and Zhongkai Li in 2021, the collective focuses on graphic design, typography, and culture through 汉字 Hanzi (Chinese characters). Each project is informed by a Chinese character and extends into the forms of exhibitions, publications, lectures, and workshops. Yang is an Assistant Professor of Graphic Design at Boston University and Li is a Visiting Professor at Pratt Institute. Their current exhibition, , explores East Asian visual culture through the lens of graphic design, typography, and independent publishing, tracing how shared histories and distinct, aesthetic identities continue to resonate in contemporary design.

Pararailing was founded by three artists—Jie Shao, Sixing Xu, and Snow Xuecan Ye—in 2020. It existed as an artist-run space in Shanghai from 2020 to 2021, where they organized exhibitions and the 14-day artist residency series “Guerrilla War.” Their ongoing project , which started in 2022, is a collectively written dictionary that redefines nothing more ordinary—and yet utterly unknowable—than words. Initially launched as an online project, it has expanded into other forms over the past few years, including installation, community printshop, workshop, and most recently, an artists’ book in the form of a slanted dictionary published by Page Bureau, with design by RELATED DEPARTMENT.

Para- comes from ancient Greek and means “alongside, beyond; altered; contrary; irregular, abnormal.” Railing, according to Wikipedia, is in general, a boundary feature.

Scarlett Meng is a designer, publisher, and educator working between New York and Shanghai. She founded RELATED DEPARTMENT in 2017 and Page Bureau in 2018, with a research focus on the shifting contexts of digital landscape and post-colonialism for design practice and criticism. Scarlett has received recognition from Tokyo TDC, Core77 Design Awards, TDC New York, Shannon Michael Cane Award, Paris Photo-Aperture PhotoBook Awards, and has exhibited and lectured internationally at numerous art and academic institutions. Scarlett teaches at Parsons School of Design as Adjunct Faculty and at SIVA as Adjunct Associate Professor, and has served as guest critic at University of Pennsylvania, The University of Hong Kong, and Boston University.

Light refreshments will be provided.

AAAinA’s general programming and operations are funded in part by the New York State Council on the Arts, the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, the Vilcek Foundation, and other foundations and individuals.

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

Asia Art Archive in America, 23 Cranberry Street, Brooklyn, United States