After more than a year
of shuttered operations due to the COVID-19 pandemic and a 5-alarm
fire at its Collections space, the Museum of Chinese in America’s
(MOCA) main museum space at 215 Centre Street will reopen on Thursday, July 15, 2021. The Museum’s reopening and its new exhibition
will provide crucial focus on the historical roots of anti-Asian and
Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) racism from the earliest days
of American history.
MOCA’s reopening will be anchored by a new original
exhibition Responses: Asian American Voices Resisting the Tides of
Racism. This exhibition is the
culmination of MOCA’s yearlong OneWorld COVID-19
Special Collection initiative that welcomed submissions of creative,
artistic, and public responses to the tumultuous events of 2020-21.
Art, essays, videos, music, and physical artifacts were donated by
people from across the U.S. and Asian diaspora. The exhibition will
offer an immersive experience and space for reflection, empowerment,
and action by inviting Museum guests to leave their own responses as
new platforms for understanding and education. The exhibit will run
through the middle of September.
To bring the collection to a broader audience and to
enhance the onsite experience, MOCA is pleased to announce its
partnership with Bloomberg Philanthropies to launch a MOCA digital guide on the free Bloomberg Connects app. Visitors can download the app by searching
“Bloomberg Connects” in the Google or Apple app stores. The MOCA
guide provides users with original text, video and audio content that
will enhance their interaction with MOCA both at the museum and from
anywhere. Recognizing that AAPIs across the U.S. are finding
themselves the target of intensifying hate, violence, and attacks,
MOCA prioritizes its role in providing education resources and tools
to combat this racism. MOCA’s presence on the Bloomberg Connects app will serve as a critical resource in accessing
MOCA’s work. The app also provides access to more than 30 other world
class cultural institutions.
MOCA will reopen with free admission for all. After
receiving an unrestricted gift from MacKenzie Scott, MOCA is pleased
to announce that admission to the Museum will be complimentary during
the run of the Responses exhibition from July 15, 2021, to September
19, 2021. Inspired by MacKenzie Scott’s words that “People struggling
against inequities deserve center stage in stories about change they
are creating,” MOCA prioritized a no-cost-barrier-to-entry for all.
“Arts and cultural organizations in New York City and
around the world wondered if they would ever see a reopening. To
welcome visitors back into MOCA’s space, at this important time when
heightened racism toward AAPIs is rampant, is both a responsibility
and an opportunity. To re-open in partnership with Bloomberg Connects
and with the encouragement of MacKenzie Scott provides further
encouragement to the MOCA team—one that we cherish and do not take
lightly,” said Nancy Yao Maasbach, President of
the Museum of Chinese in America.
“The responses we’ve been gathering from the public
since the early days of the pandemic offer a collective reckoning and
call to action on the pressing issues facing the AAPI community
today: hysteria of medical scapegoating, fear of violence against our
elders, and solidarity with broader racial justice movements. This
exhibition contextualizes today’s responses within a long, dark
history of anti-AAPI hate,” said Herb Tam,
Curator and Director of Exhibits of the Museum of Chinese in America.
“MOCA brings to life the stories of generations of
Chinese Americans, and Bloomberg Philanthropies has been glad to
support its trailblazing work for years,” said Kate D. Levin of the Bloomberg Philanthropies Arts
Program. “Now, as the museum
reopens its doors and deepens its commitment to countering bias and
hate, we’re excited to expand our partnership – and help MOCA reach
an even wider audience through our free Bloomberg Connects mobile
app.”
Responses: Asian
American Voices Resisting the Tides of Racism features a comprehensive timeline on the
gallery’s perimeter walls that traces 200 years of racism against
Asians and Asian American Pacific Islanders, culminating with an
expanded look at the past year’s spike in anti-AAPI violence. Artist Homer Shew will bring these events to life with specially
commissioned murals that reflect the strength of communities
throughout this long history. Commissioned pieces by J CHEN PROJECT and ARKAI will complement the exhibit run on select
days.
At the heart of the exhibition are the artwork,
multimedia, and material objects submitted by the public through
MOCA’s OneWorld COVID-19 Special Collection, which documents the agency and generosity of
Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) donation efforts, transnational
interconnectedness and organizing in digital and physical spaces, and
the resourcefulness individuals have embraced to: counter anti-AAPI
hate, cope with pandemic life, and tackle issues around social
justice.
A projected soundtrack and video in the gallery weaves together
excerpts from hours of oral histories recorded in the past year for
the OneWorld COVID-19 Special Collection to tell a multi-dimensional story of the
pandemic through an AAPI lens.
The Responses exhibition concludes with a space for
visitors to leave their own responses, using their choice of
materials: written text, drawing, or collage. These visitor responses
will then be added to the OneWorld COVID-19
Special Collection in a growing display of resistance and reflection to
counter hate and fear.
Since the launch of the OneWorld COVID-19 Special Collection in April 2020, hundreds of people have
submitted artwork, essays, and multimedia projects creations to form
a collective historical record of how COVID-19 has affected Chinese
American and AAPI communities. Hundreds more responded to MOCA’s REMEMBER,
RECORD, RESPECT outreach campaign
and PSA video
launched in the wake of the tragic shooting deaths of six women of
Asian descent and two other victims in Atlanta and submitted stories
in response to the latest wave of anti-AAPI hate and violence.
MOCA recognizes and thanks the many contributing voices
that made this exhibit possible: ARKAI (Philip Sheegog and Jonathan
Miron); Marina Bhargava; Cecilia Xie Lan Birge (Princeton Chinese
Community); Jing Cai (American Chinese Culture and Education
Foundation); Vinh Cam; Carolina Castillo; Dave Chan, Melissa Yan, Leo
Chan, and Stella Chan; Yin Chang and Moonlynn Tsai (Heart of Dinner);
Xiao Chen; Jessica Chen (J CHEN PROJECT); Kenneth R. Chester Jr and
Linglong Wei (US-China Common Concern Committee); Kenneth “ActionKid”
Chin; Cynthia Choi; Vera Chow; Fabiana Chiu-Rinaldi; Tina Chung and
Sherry Zhong (U.S. Chinese Women’s Association); Mengyu Dong; Tewfic
El-Sawy; Khamla P. Erskine (Croton Face Masks Makers); Dr. Rajeev
Fernando (Chiraj); Sunhoo Foo; Laura Gao; Echo Yu He (N95forNYC);
Clara Hsu and the Grant Avenue Follies; Dr. Agnes Hsu-Tang and Oscar
Tang; Steffi Huynh; Russell Jeung; Mike Keo; Joanne Kwong; Larissa
Lam and ONLY ONE aka Baldwin Chiu; Eric Lee; Robert Lee; Gigi Li;
Jefferson Li; Xiaowen Liang; Sheung Mei Liu and Jonathan Stein;
Phillip Lim and Rubah Abu-Nimah (#NYTougherThanEver); Dr. Thomas Lo;
Dave Lu; Mary Luke; Bianca Mabute-Louie; Patrick Mock; Erdem-Undral
Naranbaatar; Amanda Phingbodhipakkiya; Seema Shakti; Liang Shao;
Victor Sheih (Allendale Chinese Community); Michael Sheng; Homer
Shew; Claire Shin; Ivan Small; Grace Sue; Ee Tay; Bonhui Uy; Katie
Wang (Lynbrook Chinese American Community); Shuyi Wang; Edwin Wong
(Forest Hills Asian Association); Jennvine Wong; Charlie Wu
(Montgomery Chinese Community); Ellen Wu; Penny and David Yao
(Chinese American Museum Foundation); Kyra Yip (Concerned AsAm
Citizens of NYC); David Youtz; Justin Yu; Perry Yung / Yung Hoi; Xia
Zhao (Stony Brook Medicine); Justin Zhao
While its physical space will open on July 15, 2021,
MOCA remains committed to providing its curatorial, collections, and
educational content via digital, online and social media platforms,
as well as offering live-streamed public programs, masterclasses and
tours of the Museum to the tens of thousands of virtual attendees who
have enjoyed MOCA’s digital programming since the onset of the
pandemic.
For more information about MOCA’s
virtual programming, visit MOCA’s website at www.mocanyc.org,
sign up for
MOCA’s e-mail newsletter, or follow MOCA on Instagram, Facebook,
Twitter, YouTube and TikTok at @mocanyc; and WeChat at MOCANYC_USA.
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