![]() To this, Simpkins countered: “MOCA says that they are opposed to the new jail but what are they doing to stop it? Accepting $35 million for the jail expansion plan is not opposition.”Īnother major conflict between the museum and members of the Chinatown community revolves around Jonathan Chu, a real-estate mogul and co-chair of MOCA, whom the protesters accuse of contributing to the gentrification of the neighborhood. When first approached by Hyperallergic for comment during the opening event, MOCA’s president Nancy Yao Maasbach refused to comment, saying “You’re not my favorite person.” But in a written statement to Hyperallergic on Monday responding to Chin and Liem’s withdrawal from the exhibition, Yao Maasbach wrote: “MOCA has always been opponents of jail construction in Chinatown which we have made public, so it is unfortunate that the decision by these two artists to back out of MOCA’s new exhibit RESPONSES: Asian Americans Resisting the Tides of Racism has been guided by misinformation.” Installation view of the exhibition Responses: Asian American Voices Resisting the Tides of Racism Protesters pressing their signs against MOCA’s windows during the opening In March of this year, citing similar reasons, 19 members of artist collective Godzilla withdrew from a retrospective of their work at MOCA, causing the museum to cancel the exhibition. “It is because of this that we not only decided to pull our work from the show but to also raise awareness of the actions which were only recently known to us.” ![]() “With our photos showing murals of Angela Davis, Yuri Kochiyama and other social justice activists, we found MOCA’s actions and the title of the exhibition Responses: Asian American Voices Resisting the Tides of Racism to be hypocritical in the greatest sense,” Qian read from the artists’ statement. For months, activist groups have been protesting against the museum’s acceptance of a $35 million concession as part of a jail expansion plan Protesters carrying signs against Johanthan Chu, a real-estate mogul and MOCA’s co-chair, who’s accused of contributing to Chinatown’s gentrification During today’s protest, the two Bay Area artists delivered another message to the museum, read by the activist and architecture student Dorothy Qian. The artists’ withdrawn photo series depicts the Oakland Chinatown communities’ expressions of solidarity with Black Lives Matter protests last summer. On Monday, July 12, artists Colin Chin and Nicholas Liem sent a letter to MOCA requesting to withdraw their works from the museum’s collection and current exhibition, citing its “complicity” with mass incarceration and the gentrification of Chinatown. Protesters booed guests who arrived to the opening, confronting them with the chant “Shame on you.” Protesters pressing their signs to MOCA’s windows during the reopening eventĪmong the most vocal opponents of the museum have been artists scheduled to go on view in the museum’s scheduled exhibitions. “They are trying to ignore us because they don’t want to admit to themselves that they are part of such a racist, hateful institution that uses the Asian-American community to prop itself up while beating it down at the same time,” said Jihye Simpkins, one of the protest’s organizers and a member of the Coalition to Protect Chinatown and the Lower East Side. The funds are part of a “community give-back” program included in Mayor Bill de Blasio’s plan to close the notorious Rikers Island jail complex and replace it with four borough-based detention centers across the city. These funds were earmarked for a permanent home and performing arts space for MOCA, which suffered a devastating fire in its archive last year. ![]() For months, these groups have been protesting against the museum’s acceptance of a $35 million concession as part of a jail expansion plan that would rehaul and expand an existing 15-story detention complex nearby. These jarring contrasts demonstrate the growing rift between the museum and grassroots organizations, including artist groups, in Chinatown. About 100 protesters gathered outside of MOCA during the reopening A dance performance to celebrate the MOCA’s reopening after over a year of closure due to the COVID-19 pandemic
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