SCHEDULE OF EVENTS
Friday
6:30pm
5/1
Concert
All Things Shining
AADL Downtown Library: Lower Level Program Room
All Things Shining is an experimental improvisational quartet exploring the communal connections that bind people across all communities in times of conflict. Featuring Marcus Elliot, Jon Monteverde, Chace Morris, and Chien-An Yuan.
MONDAY
6:30pm
5/4
Panel Discussion
Building Media Literacy in Older AAPI Communities
Ann Arbor Downtown Library: Lower Level Program Room
Join us for a panel discussion exploring the socio-cultural issues affecting the elder AAPI populations today. More than ever, this vulnerable demographic is facing a surge in being targets for scams, disinformation, and soft propaganda. These threats, often amplified through social media, exploit cultural, linguistic, and generational gaps, leading to severe financial, emotional, and social consequences. This panel discussion will focus on strategies being developed in solutions journalism to increase information literacy among AAPI elders and push back against these predatory tactics with evidence-based responses.
Featured panelists include: Zosette Guir and Bill Kubota of Detroit PBS.
This event is sponsored by the Asian American Journalists Association of Michigan. Special thanks to Frances Kai-Hwa Wang
WEDNESDAY
6:30pm
5/6
Concert
Steady Flight Circle
Ann Arbor Downtown Library: Lower Level Program Room
Thomas Xu is a producer and DJ who creates music that dissolves boundaries between genres and strangers. He debuted with Roots That Talk, a split EP with Julion De’Angelo, released on Theo Parrish’s label Sound Signature. His own label, Steady Flight Circle, champions weird and honest music. Xu recently released his new album, The Heart of the Matter, which contains transpositions from leaving Detroit in 2020 to Thomas Xu’s return from Chicago in 2024. In its intention, Xu’s music is in gratitude for the village and ancestry that supported and enabled Thomas’s existence.
This concert is presented in partnership with the KYLYN exhibit I Use Technology In Order To Hate It Properly at Cluster Museum
MAY 2026
5/8-30
Art Exhibit
I use technology in order to hate it properly
Cluster Museum | 307 N. Main St. Ann Arbor, MI 48104
Taken from a famous quote by visionary artist Nam June Paik, I use technology in order to hate it properly explores the complex relationships and intersections between art, humanity, and technology by means of the ideas and legacy of the visionary digital video artist, as seen through the artwork of Ann Arbor and Metro Detroit-based interdisciplinary AAPI artists Maro Kariya, Kim Jackson DeBord and Zach DeBord, Joo Won Park, Linh My Truong, and Julie Zhu.
This exhibited is presented as part of the 3rd annual KYLYN AAPI Arts and Culture Festival held in May 2026 to celebrate Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month in Ann Arbor.
The Opening Reception is Friday, May 8 from 6-9pm, featuring DJ Manan Desai
MONDAY
6:30pm
5/11
Film Screening
In Love & Struggle: Michigan-Made AAPI Film Shorts
Ann Arbor Downtown Library: Lower Level Program Room
Join us as we screen three new films by Michigan AAPI filmmakers: Na Forest Lim’s In Love and Struggle, Toko Shiiki’s and Paloma Núñez-Regueiro’s Dynamic List of Indelible Marks, and Kristine Patnugot’s A Union of Two: A Pre-martial Law Manila Love Story. The screening is followed by a Q+A with the filmmakers.
These short films are unrated
WEDNESDAY
6:30pm
Author TALK
5/13
An Author's Journey: A Conversation on Publishing, Passion, and What Comes Next
Ann Arbor Downtown Library: Lower Level Program Room
Join a thoughtful conversation with AAPI authors A.H. Kim (A Good Family and Relative Strangers) and Michelle Yang (Phoenix Girl) as they discuss their journeys to get their books published, the positive reception of their work, and what comes next. Kim and Yang will offer reflections and insights on strategies for maintaining a sustained creative practice and provide valuable insight for aspiring writers and readers alike.
FRIDAY
6:30pm
5/15
Dance Performance
A Floating World
Ann Arbor Downtown Library: Lower Level Program Room
A Floating World is a movement-based performance from AAPI Performance Collaborative IS/LAND grounded in the belief that there exists an ephemeral “floating world” of ancestral consciousness and connectivity. We brush against this floating world in moments of sudden, yet inexplicable, familiarity - lucid dreaming, tasting something new that instantly feels known. These indecipherable encounters are surprising and confusing, yet they stir a profound, unconscious realization of a deeper reality that we cannot consciously understand. Intense emotional experiences, particularly grief, also evoke this connection to the 'floating world,' leaving us raw and destabilized.
WEDNESDAY
6:00pm
5/20
Artist Talk
Jogakbo Fabric Workshop
Ann Arbor Downtown Library: Lower Level Program Room
Jogakbo, a traditional Korean form of patchwork, is a technique for creating wrapping cloth (Bojagi) rooted in resourcefulness and intention. In this hands-on workshop, artist Kim Debord of Cluster Museum and Invisible Engines will introduce participants to the process of jogakbo. Learn the unique piecework technique that creates a double-sided cloth and take home your own bojagi. All materials will be provided, and no prior sewing experience is necessary.
We'll make every effort to accommodate as many attendees as possible, but seating and supplies for this event are limited and will be provided on a first-come, first-served basis.
FRIDAY
7:00pm
5/22
FILM SCREENING
Nam June Paik: The Moon is the Oldest TV
Cluster Museum | 307 N. Main St. Ann Arbor, MI 48104
CLUSTER Film Series presents Amanda Kim’s 2023 documentary film Nam June Paik: The Moon is the Oldest TV.
As co-founder of the Fluxus art movement in the U.S. alongside John Cage, Nam June Paik’s exponential impact is often overlooked. Amanda Kim’s film dives into his personal and artistic life, which were one in the same. Dogged by visa and financial problems during his prolific time in New York, Paik finally returned to Korea and was hailed a national hero for his pioneering work. The film presents diary entries and archival film footage along with recollections from current contemporary artists and those who knew him intimately such as John Cage, Joseph Beuys and others who came about in the 1960’s- 80’s art scene.
Post Q & A with current exhibition curator and CLUSTER Museum co-founder Chien-An Yuan.
Running Time: 109 minutes. Language: English. Not Rated
Thank you to this month’s CLUSTER Film Series sponsor Nam Center for Korean Studies.
Wednesday
7:00pm
5/27
AUTHOR READING
Half Natural / Half technological : MAY AUTHOR READING SERIES
Cluster Museum | 307 N. Main St. Ann Arbor, MI 48104
In May, CLUSTER Author Reading Series partners with the KYLYN Arts & Cultures Festival.
This month features Shannon Daniels, Chenxing Han, Fatema Haque, Linette Lao, Jihyun Yun, and Bryan Thao Worra.
CLUSTER Museum’s monthly Author Reading Series brings together southeast Michigan writers whose work reflect specific ideas and concepts that are in tandem with the current gallery exhibition.
This event is free but we welcome all donations, with proceeds going towards future Cluster programming
Best for ages 12 years and up.
FRIDAY
7:00pm
5/29
Artist Talk
ART & CULTURE CAFE
Cluster Museum | 307 N. Main St. Ann Arbor, MI 48104
May’s Art & Culture Cafe features 4 of the artists from the current exhibition, I use technology to hate it properly. They’ll be joined in conversation by curator and CLUSTER co-founder Chien-An Yuan. This exhibition is inspired by the visionary, experimental artist & founder of the fluxus art movement, Nam June Paik. The artists will deep dive into the current state of experimental media, sound art, the history of artists working with technology and more.
CLUSTER Museum’s Art & Culture Cafe is a free monthly series that is a quirky mash-up event of guest interviewers + gallery artists in conversation and free coffee. Usually held on Saturday mornings, think of it as an informal jolt of caffeinated arts & culture conversation (discussing music, pop culture, books, art making, films, history and more) to get your weekend started.
SATURDAY
7:00pm
5/30
CONCERT
MARO KARIYA (OTODOJO) & JOO WON PARK & LINH MY TRUONG w/ JOSH DUNN
Cluster Museum | 307 N. Main St. Ann Arbor, MI 48104
Join us for the closing night concert for I Use Technology To Hate It Properly featuring live performances by electronic music dynamos Maro Kariya (Otodojo), Joo Won Park, and Linh My Truong (visuals) with Josh Dunn (audio)
This concert is free but we welcome all donations, with proceeds going towards future Cluster programming