Lunar Kickoff! with Pitt's VSA and CASA, February 13.

The Vietnamese Student Association and Chinese American Student Association at the University of Pittsburgh will present "Lunar Kickoff!" on February 13.

Pitt VSA and CASA invite YOU to keep up that holiday spirit ❄️ and come celebrate a WEEK 🤯 of Lunar New Year festivities!

A weeklong of what?! Pull through to our short kickoff event to get familiar with the 🐭Zodiac Animal Race🐃 and get a chance to win BIG prizes😩!

Sign up for workshops at our main event on 2/20 using this form https://forms.gle/s4Y6fd3AeY2zNJHTA zoom link: https://pitt.zoom.us/j/96694117103

Diane Severin Nguyen: Tyrant Star, online at Carnegie Museum of Art through February 14.

An exhibition by Diane Severin Nguyen, Tyrant Star online via the Carnegie Museum of Art will run through February 14.

This iteration of Carnegie Museum of Art’s online exhibition series features Tyrant Star, a 16-minute video work by artist Diane Severin Nguyen (American, b. 1990). It marks the first time that the work, a new acquisition, will be exhibited at CMOA.

Filmed entirely in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, Tyrant Star prompts viewers to consider how cultural touchstones like songs and shared histories are fragmented and woven together in new ways over time. The work unfolds in three chapters, beginning with a view of the metropolis set to Ca Dao, or Vietnamese folk poems, before shifting to an aspiring YouTube star performing a cover of “The Sound of Silence” and concluding with footage of children at a Ho Chi Minh City orphanage. Although each chapter focuses on different voices and perspectives, they are linked by messages of grief and care that remain unheard or misunderstood and by reminders of pain, isolation, and trauma. Nguyen’s camera captures trash-strewn landscapes, quiet interiors, and fragmented bodies, highlighting subtle movements that suggest our surroundings are alive, swelling with the memories of the past.

Diane Severin Nguyen: Tyrant Star is organized by Hannah Turpin, curatorial assistant for modern and contemporary art and photography.

It opened on November 18 and is available online at the CMOA's website through Sunday the 14th.

Pittsburgh City-Paper profiles Asian restaurants and communities this Lunar New Year season.

photo by Jared Wickerham.

Kimberly Rooney 高小荣 in the Pittsburgh City-Paper today looks at how Asian restaurants and communities are spending this Lunar New Year season.

The Year of the Rat is nearing its end, and many Asian Americans are preparing for Lunar New Year celebrations. But as we usher in the Year of the Ox, many must compromise and adjust their traditional and personal rituals to keep themselves, their families, and their communities safe. And Asian Americans in Pittsburgh are no different.

Virtual Lunar New Year celebration with OCA Pittsburgh, February 15.

The Pittsburgh chapter of the Organization of Chinese Americans is hosting a virtual Lunar New Year celebration on February 15.

Celebrate #LunarNewYear2021 with us virtually as we look back at past performances and celebrate community members past and present who made or are making a difference in the Asian American community.

It will air on Facebook Live from 6:00 pm. Also visit this list of restaurants offering Lunar New Year specials.

Screening of 2019 Nailed It documentary and Q&A with filmmaker, February 16 at Pitt.

The University of Pittsburgh's Asian Studies Center will present a screening of the 2019 Nailed It documentary and Q&A with filmmaker Adele Pham on February 16. From the documentary's official site:

In virtually every city, state and strip mall across the U.S., women get their nails done in salons likely owned by Vietnamese entrepreneurs. How did this community come to be such a presence in the field? NAILED IT takes viewers from Los Angeles to the Bronx to meet the diverse people and relationships behind this booming and enigmatic trade, as well as through the complex history behind this part of the beauty industry.

The event starts at 7:00 pm and is free and open to the public, though registration is required.

"2021 Lunar New Year Virtual Celebration," February 23 at Pitt.

via fourbrickstall (Creative Commons)

The University of Pittsburgh's Asian Studies Center, Global Studies Center, and Institute for International Studies in Education will host the "2021 Lunar New Year Virtual Celebration" on February 23.

IMPORTANT NOTE: The event will occur in the evenning at Eastern Time because that is the best time for our global participants.

Join us for a virtual Lunar New Year celebration as we learn about the meanings and traditions of this important and festive holiday from global perspectives! All are invited!

It runs from 9:00 to 10:00 pm and is open to the Pitt community. Registration is required.

Mai Khoi and Bad Activist, free with Pitt Arts, January 27.

via mai-khoi.com

Vietnamese artist and activist Mai Khoi will perform Bad Activist on January 27 as part of Pitt Arts' Artful Wednesdays.

Bad Activist is an autobiographical performance piece, combining storytelling with state-of-the-art music performance. The narrative charts the extraordinary trajectory of Mai Khoi’s life. Khoi becomes a celebrated pop star in Vietnam. Bad Activist explores both the actual historic events of the artist’s life, as well as the subconscious dream worlds that have fueled her work.

She is also profiled in a WESA.fm piece on the 19th:

Mai ended up in Pittsburgh this fall thanks to the Artist Protection Fund, a program of the International Free Expression Project. The APF contacted Pitt’s Global Studies Center about hosting her. She was accepted into the Center’s Scholars at Risk program. While she’s not technically a scholar, “she’s really in the thick of a bunch of issues which as recent events underscore again, are just the essential issues of our political moment,” said Michael Goodhart, the political science professor who created the program.

The Pitt Arts performance begins at 12:00 pm on the 27th and will be streamed for free on Youtube.

Screening and discussion of Keep Saray Home at Pitt for its APIA Month, January 26.

The University of Pittsburgh is recognizing Asian Pacific Islander American Heritage Month in January---as there is little campus activity during May---and an Asian Pacific Islander Senate has recently formed there. One of its events this month is a screening of the short documentary Keep Saray Home with a Q&A with filmmakers on January 26. A synopsis, from the film's official site:

ICE doesn’t just separate families at the border. In the outskirts of Boston, three families face the impending threat of deportation. But as refugees from Cambodia and Vietnam, they know they’ll have to fight together to stay together.

The event takes place on Zoom from 7:00 pm and is free and open to the public.

Mai Khoi and Bad Activist with Pitt Arts, January 27.

via mai-khoi.com

Vietnamese artist and activist Mai Khoi will perform Bad Activist on January 27 as part of Pitt Arts' Artful Wednesdays.

Bad Activist is an autobiographical performance piece, combining storytelling with state-of-the-art music performance. The narrative charts the extraordinary trajectory of Mai Khoi’s life. Khoi becomes a celebrated pop star in Vietnam. Bad Activist explores both the actual historic events of the artist’s life, as well as the subconscious dream worlds that have fueled her work.

She is also profiled in a WESA.fm piece today:

Mai ended up in Pittsburgh this fall thanks to the Artist Protection Fund, a program of the International Free Expression Project. The APF contacted Pitt’s Global Studies Center about hosting her. She was accepted into the Center’s Scholars at Risk program. While she’s not technically a scholar, “she’s really in the thick of a bunch of issues which as recent events underscore again, are just the essential issues of our political moment,” said Michael Goodhart, the political science professor who created the program.

The Pitt Arts performance begins at 12:00 pm on the 27th and will be streamed on Youtube.

"In Conversation Online: Dawoud Bey and An-My Lê," January 16 with Carnegie Museum of Art.

via anmyle.com.

The Carneige Museum of Art will present "In Conversation Online: Dawoud Bey and An-My Lê" online on January 16 in the final weekend of Lê's exhibition On Contested Terrain.

Join artists Dawoud Bey and An-My Lê for a conversation on the occasion of the closing weekend of the exhibition An-My Lê: On Contested Terrain.

Both artists work with scale, representation, memory, lived experience, and the traces of history in landscape. The recent turn to this subject in Bey's work connects with Lê's longstanding interest in the genre and reunites these MacArthur Fellows more than 25 years after their graduation from the MFA program at Yale University in 1993. Learn about where their careers have traveled since that time and what they have in store for the future.

The online event runs from 12:00 to 1:10 pm and is priced at pay-what-you-wish. Registration can be completed online.

"In Conversation Online: Dawoud Bey and An-My Lê," January 16 with Carnegie Museum of Art.

via anmyle.com.

The Carneige Museum of Art will present "In Conversation Online: Dawoud Bey and An-My Lê" online on January 16 in the final weekend of Lê's exhibition On Contested Terrain.

Join artists Dawoud Bey and An-My Lê for a conversation on the occasion of the closing weekend of the exhibition An-My Lê: On Contested Terrain.

Both artists work with scale, representation, memory, lived experience, and the traces of history in landscape. The recent turn to this subject in Bey's work connects with Lê's longstanding interest in the genre and reunites these MacArthur Fellows more than 25 years after their graduation from the MFA program at Yale University in 1993. Learn about where their careers have traveled since that time and what they have in store for the future.

The online event runs from 12:00 to 1:10 pm and is priced at pay-what-you-wish. Registration can be completed online.

"In Conversation Online: Diane Severin Nguyen and Hannah Turpin," December 16 at Carnegie Museum of Art.

The Carnegie Museum of Art will present "In Conversation Online: Diane Severin Nguyen and Hannah Turpin" on December 16.

Join artist Diane Severin Nguyen and Hannah Turpin, Carnegie Museum of Art's Curatorial Assistant for Modern and Contemporary Art and Photography as they discuss Diane Severin Nguyen: Tyrant Star, the museum's latest online exhibition.

Filmed entirely in Ho Chi Minh City, Tyrant Star prompts viewers to consider the social, psychological, and spatial impacts of our time. The stitching together of differently sourced sounds with distinct visual chapters of trash-strewn landscapes, quiet interiors, and fragmented bodies suspend the viewer in an environment of solitude, longing, and uncertainty. The subtle movements highlight the ways our surroundings are alive, swelling with the memories of the past.

Tyrant Star is available online through February 14. The conversation on Deember 16 runs from 6:00 to 7:00 pm and the price is pay-what-you-wish. Those interested should sign up in advance.

"In Conversation Online: Diane Severin Nguyen and Hannah Turpin," December 16 at Carnegie Museum of Art.

The Carnegie Museum of Art will present "In Conversation Online: Diane Severin Nguyen and Hannah Turpin" on December 16.

Join artist Diane Severin Nguyen and Hannah Turpin, Carnegie Museum of Art's Curatorial Assistant for Modern and Contemporary Art and Photography as they discuss Diane Severin Nguyen: Tyrant Star, the museum's latest online exhibition.

Filmed entirely in Ho Chi Minh City, Tyrant Star prompts viewers to consider the social, psychological, and spatial impacts of our time. The stitching together of differently sourced sounds with distinct visual chapters of trash-strewn landscapes, quiet interiors, and fragmented bodies suspend the viewer in an environment of solitude, longing, and uncertainty. The subtle movements highlight the ways our surroundings are alive, swelling with the memories of the past.

Tyrant Star is available online through February 14. The conversation on Deember 16 runs from 6:00 to 7:00 pm and the price is pay-what-you-wish. Those interested should sign up in advance.

Diane Severin Nguyen: Tyrant Star, online at Carnegie Museum of Art, November 18 through February 14.

An exhibition by Diane Severin Nguyen, Tyrant Star opens online today from the Carnegie Museum of Art.

This iteration of Carnegie Museum of Art’s online exhibition series features Tyrant Star, a 16-minute video work by artist Diane Severin Nguyen (American, b. 1990). It marks the first time that the work, a new acquisition, will be exhibited at CMOA.

Filmed entirely in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, Tyrant Star prompts viewers to consider how cultural touchstones like songs and shared histories are fragmented and woven together in new ways over time. The work unfolds in three chapters, beginning with a view of the metropolis set to Ca Dao, or Vietnamese folk poems, before shifting to an aspiring YouTube star performing a cover of “The Sound of Silence” and concluding with footage of children at a Ho Chi Minh City orphanage. Although each chapter focuses on different voices and perspectives, they are linked by messages of grief and care that remain unheard or misunderstood and by reminders of pain, isolation, and trauma. Nguyen’s camera captures trash-strewn landscapes, quiet interiors, and fragmented bodies, highlighting subtle movements that suggest our surroundings are alive, swelling with the memories of the past.

Diane Severin Nguyen: Tyrant Star is organized by Hannah Turpin, curatorial assistant for modern and contemporary art and photography.

It is available online at the CMOA's website through February 14, 2021.

"Plantations as Battlefields," November 11 (online) at Pitt.

The University of Pittsburgh's Asian Studies Center will host Dr. Michitake Aso and his talk "Plantations as Battlefields" on November 11.

At the beginning of the twentieth century, demand for consumer goods such as tires for bicycles and automobiles grew rapidly. In French Indochina, this demand led to the creation of vast plantations of hevea brasiliensis, a type of tree that produces late that can be used to produce rubber. These plantations did not disappear with the end of colonialism. In fact, they served as key battlefields during the American War in Vietnam, or the Vietnam War as it is known in the United States. Dr. Aso's talk explores the role of rubber plantations during this war and uses these iconic landscapes as a case study of how the environment shaped decolonization and Vietnamese nationalism.

It begins online from 12:00 pm. Registration is required and can be done here.

"In Conversation Online: An-My Lê, Monique Truong, and Hannah Turpin," October 28 with Carnegie Museum of Art.

Untitled, Sapa, 1995, via anmyle.com

The Carnegie Museum of Art will present "In Conversation Online: An-My Lê, Monique Truong, and Hannah Turpin" on October 28, part of the exhibition An-My Lê On Contested Terrain running through January 18, 2021.

Nakama again voted best Japanese food in Pittsburgh by readers of Pittsburgh City-Paper. GetGo not named Best Sushi.

The results of the 2020 Pittsburgh City-Paper Readers' Poll were released today and Nakama was again voted as Best Japanese food in Pittsburgh. Sichuan Gourmet was voted Best Chinese, Bae-Bae's Kitchen Best Korean, Nicky's Thai Kitchen as Best Thai, The Slippery Mermaid as Best Sushi, and Tram's Kitchen as Best Vietnamese.

"In Conversation Online: An-My Lê, Monique Truong, and Hannah Turpin," October 28 with Carnegie Museum of Art.

Untitled, Sapa, 1995, via anmyle.com

The Carnegie Museum of Art will present "In Conversation Online: An-My Lê, Monique Truong, and Hannah Turpin" on October 28, part of the exhibition An-My Lê On Contested Terrain running through January 18, 2021.

Applications for Pitt's Asian Studies Center Language Partner program being accepted.

The University of Pittsburgh's Asian Studies Center is now accepting applicatiosn for its latest Language Partner program.

New Vietnamese restaurant opening in Bethel Park next week.

Pho SAIGON Cafe is scheduled to open in Bethel Park on September 8. Previews of the menu online show banh mi, pho, Vietnamese coffee, and bubble teas. It will open at 2822 South Park Road (map) in what was formerly The Old Bridge Restaurant. They also own SAIGON88 Express in McKees Rocks.