210 canal st, rm 310, new york, ny
4 / sidian liu: lunch break friends
june 17 and 26, 12.30-1.30 lunch sessions in chinatown
june 22, 12.30-1.30 open lunch hour at gmtc
outlines for a dispersed commons
lunch break friends is a social exercise that creates temporary lunchtime encounters between arts workers and immigrant workers in manhattan chinatown. with many galleries and arts organizations, as well as a large number of restaurants and immigrant-owned businesses, chinatown and its surrounding neighborhoods are a workplace and a home for both arts workers and immigrant workers alike. although the two communities often share the same streets, they rarely form sustained relationships with one another.
lunch break friends considers lunch as a shared social infrastructure, beginning with the simple time of sharing a meal to experimenting with how relationships might emerge between workers whose lives already overlap spatially, but seldom socially.
recognizing that some assistance is needed to navigate linguistic and cultural barriers, liu has invited a group of local bilingual chinatown arts workers–matthew li, echo zixuan zhao, tianyun chen, and bill (ho king man)–to take on the role of mediators. for the two sessions on june 17 and june 26, participants are invited to sign up and will be paired with a mediator, who will bring them to neighborhood lunch spots that they frequent and have built relationships with through their daily routines. mediators will guide participants through the experience of ordering, eating, and sharing a meal together, while facilitating conversation, introductions, and informal social exchange.
on june 22, gmtc will host an open lunch hour in its space, extending the invitation to fellow arts workers and welcoming neighbors and workers in the 210 canal st building.
sidian liu is an artist, translator, yarner, and nest builder. using "housewife skills," she makes social relationships to facilitate trust and intimacy from a respectful distance, exploring pathways to further solidarity in our challenging times. living in flux, her works often take forms in images, performance, light-weight installations, and socially-engaged projects.
ⓒ gmtc 2025