Photos by DEBORAH BOOKER
Phase One: Fake posters announce arrival of Starbucks, TGI Friday’s and American Apparel in Chinatown, along with luxury lofts at the Mendonca building on Smith Street. A mock rally is held to protest Aloha Land and Water, a made-up Middle East consortium bent on redeveloping Chinatown. Fliers without disclaimers direct people to fictitious Web sites ( www.investaloha.com and www.savechinatown.org ), where disclaimers were recently posted to alert people about the project.
Phase Two: Rolled out over the weekend, and imagines a Chinatown in which China has become a green-friendly superpower. Phase Three: Set to start tomorrow. Posters and other props are “artifacts” from a future in which Chinatown has been through a pandemic flu. The flu quarantined Chinatown and now, one year later, the community is slowly bouncing back. Posters, among other things, direct people where to go if they feel symptoms of the flu.
Phase Four: Will debut late this week and is called “Dig Deeper.” No other details were released. Art show: Props and posters from the futures will be part of an art show, starting Oct. 23, at the Arts at Marks Garage on Nu’uanu Avenue. Workshop: Organizers have not yet secured a date for the workshop, but say it will address the possible futures of Chinatown and how to garner support to direct the real future of the community. For more information on the project, go to www.foundfutures.org .