A museum visit is often a trip into the past—pottery or bones, portraits painted decades or centuries ago, artifacts from epochs gone by. But what about a museum of the future?
That’s the vision from a coalition of artists from Philly’s diverse pan-Asian community. They present a multi-disciplinary, multi-ethnic imagining of the future—not the past—in **“Living Museum: Philly Asian Futures,”** running October 22–26.
Over the course of about 90 minutes, audiences will experience some combination of dance, sci-fi, a tea ceremony, a magic garden, or perhaps a special meal—each presented by a different artist. Each of the nine artists represents a different Asian background and story. Together, their works take over the entire third floor of the Asian Arts Initiative building on Vine Street in Chinatown.
Audience members move from installation to installation, discovering different sets of shows while still seeing most of them.
The artists, members of Philadelphia Asian Performing Artists, “wanted to do something that was connected to the city and also wanted to do something in their own individual art forms,” said Joseph Ahmed, one of three directors, along with Bi Jean Ngo and Caitlin Alvarez.
“A living museum lets a number of different artists exist in the same piece and still have a lot of autonomy,” Ahmed explained.
### Story Circles as an Anchor
“Story circles formed an anchor point for us,” said Ahmed.
Story circle facilitators Izzy Sazak and Mieke D. gathered “elders” from Chinese, Vietnamese, Indonesian, and Laotian groups, among others. “We were not only receiving their stories but also are echoing back and being in real conversation about what we’re experiencing as younger people,” said Ahmed, whose father is Bangladeshi.
The artists wanted to learn about what the elders experienced, but more importantly, about their “dreams, hopes, and sorrows for the future,” Ahmed said, intermingling the elders’ views with the artists’.
“It’s a kaleidoscope,” he elaborated. “You look into one portal for the future and the light splits and fractures into all these many different groups’ visions for the future. It is communal and also intensely personal. You get a window into this group and you also get to live into each of these small performances and installations of individual worlds.”
### A Personal Connection: Southeast Asian Stories on Stage
Lex Thammavong, a Philadelphia actor, attended an Indonesian story circle and watched a video of the Laotian one. Thammavong’s father was born in Laos, where his grandparents—Laotian and Thai—were caught in a Romeo and Juliet romance between two groups then at war.
When Thammavong’s father was a child, the family hid in the jungle, escaping from Laos to Thailand before ultimately settling in Philadelphia.
“With all the chaos, they made it through,” Thammavong said.
Thammavong’s piece for the museum is a sci-fi work titled **“Southeast Asian Time Nomad.”** In it, he portrays Sangha GlorpGlorp84, who has traveled from the future to Philadelphia to warn the audience of a bleak AI dystopia—where AI is used as a tool of colonization, erasing genetic and academic history, particularly the history of Asian people.
The stories shared in the Laotian story circle deeply impacted Thammavong. “The Laotian group was very significant because most of those people were refugees,” he said. “I was stricken by the ways refugees hold trauma and move through it. I think that a lot of Southeast Asian refugees have learned how to compartmentalize their feelings in order to survive, and I think that has given people a false notion that they are unfeeling.”
Thammavong explained that “there are different ways of saying ‘I love you’ and of grieving and expressing those feelings. I’ve heard elders describe trauma in a very matter-of-fact way, but when you keep talking, you realize they want someone to listen. A lot of people aren’t given that opportunity to just say what they’ve seen. While trying to escape, so many of them had to split up as a family. They’ve lost family members.”
This leaves the younger generation, including Thammavong, with a dilemma.
“We don’t want to pry, and we don’t want to bring up traumas that are not ours, but people opening up has encouraged me to be more curious and be more frank with my questions with my family and other Asian elders,” he said.
Thammavong noted that recent studies have shown trauma can impact people on a cellular level, affecting subsequent generations.
“We are kind of left with this itch that we don’t know where it came from,” he said. “Those survival instincts are with us and make us more likely to develop anxiety and PTSD. Hearing about the trauma, no matter how much it pains me, is illuminating. It makes me feel that I can understand where my parents come from, and where I come from.”
“Intergenerational trauma also implies intergenerational joy and resilience,” Thammavong added. “Instead of running from these histories, it’s my duty and my birthright and my gift and burden in the same vein to learn these histories and to carry them.”
### A Community Celebration and Roundtable
The Living Museum event culminates with a free dinner and roundtable on Sunday, October 26, at 4:30 p.m., coordinated by Asian Americans United—the group that spearheaded a successful fight against building a basketball arena near Chinatown.
The roundtable, organized by Mel Hsu, will bring together artists, activists, and attendees to network and discuss how activism and art can impact the future of Philadelphia’s Asian communities.
### Other Highlights from the Lineup
– **“Ancestors in Training Cooking School”** by Mieke D.
Designed for an audience of one, this performance takes place in a shape-shifting kitchen, allowing only a few audience members to experience it at a time.
– **“Amrita and Kalinda’s Most Excellent Adventure”** by Sarbani Hazra
Featuring an unstoppable mother-daughter duo exploring past and future.
– **“Birthright”** by Juptej Singh
Reflects on his Punjabi heritage—he feels like an outsider both to his ancestral culture and the elusive American dream.
– **“Bountiful Garden”** by Marcie Mamura
An evolving garden space inviting gathering and connection.
– **“Coming Home”** by Geatali Tampy
A dance movement piece envisioning a future filled with safety, community, healing, being, and sharing.
– **“Ninuno”** by Josh Marquez
An immersive musical performance weaving the sonic tapestry of Philadelphia’s Asian voices. “Ninuno” means ancestor in Tagalog, the language of the Philippines.
– **“Pearls of Our Dragon”** by Alex Shaw
Draws inspiration from the interweaving of time, translation, and location as reflected in the ancient Chinese tea ceremony.
– **“Tracer”** by Dan Kim
Portrays the oldest man in the world trying to record a video of his identity before it is erased.
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**Event Details:**
**Living Museum: Philly Asian Futures**
October 22–26
Philadelphia Asian Performing Artists
Asian Arts Initiative
1219 Vine St., Philadelphia
Experience a living museum that not only honors the past but boldly imagines the future of Asian communities in Philadelphia through art, stories, and shared dreams.
https://billypenn.com/2025/10/20/philly-asian-futures-living-museum-exhibit-asian-arts-initiative/