NEW YORK: The New York City-based Museum of Chinese in America (MOCA) on Saturday launched its latest exhibition “Windows for Chinatown” and temporary space for MOCA Workshop.
The event aims to meet visitors’ interests as the museum remains closed to the public, said Yue Ma, director for collections and research with MOCA.
MOCA has transformed its windows into exhibition spaces reflecting on Chinatown history, anti-Asian racism during the COVID-19 pandemic and recent uprisings for racial justice.
Windows for Chinatown “draws from MOCA’s storied national archive of Chinese American history, in addition to highlighting new acquisition projects such as the OneWorld COVID-19 Collection,” said MOCA.
Meanwhile, visitors could also visit MOCA Workshop, a replacement of its Collections and Research Center damaged in a fire in January at another site. MOCA Workshop will not only house over 85,000 artifacts that document the Chinese experience in America but also serve as a publicly accessible research space that invites hands-on engagement with collections there, said MOCA.
Artists, researchers, students and others could participate in the research work at the workshop where artifacts will be preserved, restored and digitized, according to Ma.
“As many people care about the status of Collections and Research Center, MOCA Workshop would show the appearance of rescued artifacts from the fire,” Ma told media.
Ma added that the vast majority of the rescued artifacts require restoration and assessment on how much it would cost is under way. As many as 5 percent of the artifacts at MOCA Collections and Research Center have been completely destroyed in the fire, said Ma. Beside a companion website, MOCA also plans to launch an educational campaign on social media as part of its 40th anniversary celebration. Founded in 1980, MOCA is dedicated to preserving and presenting the history, culture and diverse experiences of people of Chinese descent in the United States.
Meanwhile, Five people including three college students were injured in a gas explosion at a strip mall in Harrisonburg, Virginia, on Saturday morning, local media reported. The two-story shopping center, which is just a few blocks west of the James Madison University campus, was a “complete loss”, Michael Parks, a spokesman for the city, said at a news conference. Parks said that a three-alarm fire spread to at least two other commercial buildings in the city. Among the injured are three James Madison University students, said the reports. One of the students reportedly received treatment at a hospital, while the other two were treated and released at the scene. Virginia Governor Ralph Northam tweeted that the incident was a “gas explosion.” –Agencies
