Tilt-Down Fence

interior perspective

New Project Update 2015! Tilt-Down Fence; a public art installation project that serves the local immigrant population currently residing in Dorchester.

Tilt-Down Fence is a temporary urban stage set for Vietnamese water puppet shows and oral plays about immigrant experiences.  The fence is a metaphor and has purpose.  It’s a climbing structure [metaphor: the economic ladder] and a framework for adults to gather, support and network towards upward mobility. Being sited near the MBTA public bus stop, Tilt-Down Fence will also serve the community at large, the VietAID Au Co pre-schoolers, parents and the elderly population.

Tilt-Down Fence plays with the typology of a traditional fence that not only symbolically speaks about the borders and boundaries that the immigrant population has to break through but it’s also a structure of place-making for the community.   Under the supervision of BR+A+CE co-founders Hansy Better Barraza and Anthony Piermarini, the team is led by architectural students Connie Wang from the Rhode Island School of Design and Shiqing Liu from the Harvard Graduate School of Design.

The project is conceived, fabricated and fund-raised by BR+A+CE.  We rely on crowd-funding to help us make the project a reality.  Please make sure to visit our Donation page and “Like” our Facebook page to receive project updates.

In the past few weeks, BR+A+CE has organized meetings with Evelyn Darling and Nia Allen-Lee and their summer youth group to discuss ways in which we can serve the Dorchester immigrant community. We currently are also  finalizing our design concepts to submit an application to the MBTA to get approvals to install the public art project in early October on MBTA owned land.  We have come up with several proposals to activate this wonderful park currently across VietAID.  Please see our process work below.

 

 

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Fins open

Background

Between 2000 to 2010, the Vietnamese population in Massachusetts increased by 26%, making Massachusetts the 7th largest state with 42,915 Vietnamese immigrants. The 2010 census showed that 4.8% of the total population in the United States is Asian, and the Vietnamese population was the 4th largest among the Asian population groups. From 1990 to 2000, the Dorchester foreign-born population grew from 23.5% to 32%. This is a community that has had and will continue to make an impact on the Dorchester area. Together with VietAID, BR+A+CE aims to not only bring quality public art to Fields Corner to serve the user group and larger community, but also design a public space or art installation that commemorates Boston’s rich history as a diverse hub of immigration and celebrates the present contributions of immigrants to the city.

Upon approval from the board on the topic of immigration, BR+A+CE is currently working with the Vietnamese American Initiative for Development, also known as VietAID, this summer! Located in the vibrant neighborhood of Fields Corner in Dorchester, VietAID aims to build a strong Vietnamese-American community through providing comprehensive economic development programs and services to alleviate poverty and advance civic participation.

Our mission for the upcoming year is to positively impact the community’s sense of identity and belonging through the design of a place and space where the immediate Fields Corner community and the Vietnamese immigrants supported by Viet-AID can gather together and create conversation.SHCEME-024 (2) 1

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Brace is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization. Brace was founded by artists and designers to create new community spaces that engage social, economic, and cultural issues facing communities around the world.

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