Statement
Crossroads is a participatory public art installation on view at the Boston City Hall Mezzanine Gallery through May 8, 2026, presented as part of the Mayor’s Office of Arts & Culture program. Located at the civic heart of the city, the exhibition transforms the gallery into a space of seasonal and symbolic transition, where past, present, and future converge. Crossroads is composed of 16 canvases and a projection event. Through a subtle gradient of color, shifting from beige to green, a quiet shift in tone mirrors the progression from winter to spring, symbolizing the collective journey of Bostonians as they move from dormancy toward renewal.
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Open Call
🟢 Boston City Hall
🟢 On view Feb 16 – May 8, 2026
🟢 Open Call Submission: Jan 5 – Jan 25, 2026
🟢Calling people from Greater Boston Area
🟢 On view Feb 16 – May 8, 2026
🟢 Open Call Submission: Jan 5 – Jan 25, 2026
🟢Calling people from Greater Boston Area
“How do you move through the city?”
CROSSROADS is an exhibition by artists Yujin Cao and Wei Wu that invites Boston residents to share a portrait and a few words about movement — from winter into spring. You don’t need to be a runner. Movement can be fast or slow, daily or occasional, intentional or ordinary.
Selected submissions will be artistically interpreted and become part of a collective portrait of Boston, presented through a video projection at the exhibition’s reception at the Boston City Hall Galleries.
Become part of Boston‘s public art!
Inquires : Instagram @crossroads.bostoncityhall
Email: crossroadsbostoncityhall@gmail.com
CROSSROADS is an exhibition by artists Yujin Cao and Wei Wu that invites Boston residents to share a portrait and a few words about movement — from winter into spring. You don’t need to be a runner. Movement can be fast or slow, daily or occasional, intentional or ordinary.
Selected submissions will be artistically interpreted and become part of a collective portrait of Boston, presented through a video projection at the exhibition’s reception at the Boston City Hall Galleries.
Become part of Boston‘s public art!
Inquires : Instagram @crossroads.bostoncityhall
Email: crossroadsbostoncityhall@gmail.com
Open Call Posters
Projection Night
At the Mezzanine Gallery, Crossroads, a public installation by artists Wei Wu and Yujin Cao, remains on view through May 8, extending the conversation beyond race day and into the rhythms that shape the city year-round. First activated during a one-night projection event on April 16, the project gathers portraits and written reflections from residents across Greater Boston, asking a simple question: how do you move through the city?
The answers — ranging from daily commutes and caregiving routines to long-distance running and late-night work — are presented as projected images and texts that appear across the gallery space. Rather than emphasizing singular achievement, the work foregrounds accumulation: the repetition of ordinary movement as a defining force in civic life.
That framing takes on additional resonance in the days following the marathon. While the race foregrounds peak endurance, Crossroads turns attention to what persists after the crowds disperse — the quieter, continuous motion that sustains the city.
The answers — ranging from daily commutes and caregiving routines to long-distance running and late-night work — are presented as projected images and texts that appear across the gallery space. Rather than emphasizing singular achievement, the work foregrounds accumulation: the repetition of ordinary movement as a defining force in civic life.
That framing takes on additional resonance in the days following the marathon. While the race foregrounds peak endurance, Crossroads turns attention to what persists after the crowds disperse — the quieter, continuous motion that sustains the city.
During the April 16 event, Kathrine Switzer, the first woman to officially run the Boston Marathon in 1967, attended and contributed to the project’s open call.
Among the participants were a survivor of the Boston Marathon bombing and individuals recovering from cancer, many of whom described movement not as performance, but as a means of rebuilding — a daily practice of persistence, motivation, and renewal.
“The project is about recognizing that movement is shared,” Wu said. “Not only in moments of breakthrough, but in the ongoing effort of living, adapting, and continuing.”
The installation’s visual language extends beyond the gallery. On the night of the projection event, Boston City Hall and the surrounding plaza were illuminated in green, echoing the project’s palette and linking the work to the broader civic landscape.
Supported by the Boston Mayor’s Office of Arts and Culture, with projection collaboration by ILLUMINUS, Crossroads positions the city itself as both subject and medium.
As winter recedes and spring takes hold, the work reads as a reflection of Boston’s enduring character — a city that continues to move forward through change, through difficulty, and through the accumulation of everyday effort. In this sense, Crossroads stands as both tribute and record: an acknowledgment of a collective resilience shaped not by a single event, but by the sustained movement of its people.
Among the participants were a survivor of the Boston Marathon bombing and individuals recovering from cancer, many of whom described movement not as performance, but as a means of rebuilding — a daily practice of persistence, motivation, and renewal.
“The project is about recognizing that movement is shared,” Wu said. “Not only in moments of breakthrough, but in the ongoing effort of living, adapting, and continuing.”
The installation’s visual language extends beyond the gallery. On the night of the projection event, Boston City Hall and the surrounding plaza were illuminated in green, echoing the project’s palette and linking the work to the broader civic landscape.
Supported by the Boston Mayor’s Office of Arts and Culture, with projection collaboration by ILLUMINUS, Crossroads positions the city itself as both subject and medium.
As winter recedes and spring takes hold, the work reads as a reflection of Boston’s enduring character — a city that continues to move forward through change, through difficulty, and through the accumulation of everyday effort. In this sense, Crossroads stands as both tribute and record: an acknowledgment of a collective resilience shaped not by a single event, but by the sustained movement of its people.
[From left: Boston Marathon bombing survivor advocate Lynn Julian, artists Wei Wu and Yujin Cao, and Kathrine Switzer, the first woman to officially run the Boston Marathon, at the Crossroads reception at Boston City Hall on April 16. Photo by Annielly Camargo for the Mayorʼs Office of Arts and Culture.]
[From left: Mariana Rey from the Mayor's Office of Arts and Culture (MOAC), artists Wei Wu, Kathrine Switzer, the first woman to officially run the Boston Marathon, artist Yujin Cao, Edith Zuschmann, CEO, President & Co-Founder of 261 Fearless, at the Crossroads reception at Boston City Hall on April 16. Photo by Annielly Camargo for the Mayorʼs Office of Arts and Culture.]
[Crowds gathered at Boston City Hall to watch the Crossroads projection. Photo by Caleb Hawkins.]
[Boston City Hall lit its exterior green for the Crossroads projection night on April 16. Photo by Wei Wu.]
[Wei Wu and Yujin Cao pose with Boston City Hall’s green-lit façade during Crossroads Projection Night on April 16. Photo by Yufan Xie.]