The members of that group made similar arguments about the concession money and Chu’s business ties, but also criticized the museum for never making a clear statement of opposition to the jail project. Liem and Chin mentioned a previous issue back in March with members of the art collective Godzilla, where 19 artists in the group chose to withdraw from a special exhibition of their work at the MOCA, forcing the museum to close the entire exhibit. If MOCA takes decisive steps towards these actions, we would consider granting permission in the future-but for now, we cannot, in good conscience, allow the use of our work in any instance. No matter what neighborhood it might be, we cannot support new museum buildings if they come with a new jail, nor a Chinatown where workers are deprived of their livelihoods for the sake of property development. We would wholeheartedly support decisions by the museum to return to being stewards of reclaiming, preserving and presenting the community’s cultural heritage, grassroots struggles and history, return the $35 million concession and remove Jonathan Chu from the Board of Directors. We sincerely hope that the museum will reevaluate its position and take effective steps to support the community it calls home and the movements upon which it is built. ![]() In researching these matters further, we also found MOCA’s lack of transparency and dialogue with Godzilla, Chinatown Art Brigade and the greater community, in regards to the concerns described above undermines the museum’s stated purpose to provide a platform for open dialogue. It would be dishonest of MOCA to present these images for a grand reopening event while also condoning the building of a new jail in the heart of Chinatown through the acceptance of the $35 million. It is contrary to the expressions of solidarity between the Asian American and Black communities against police violence and gentrification highlighted in our work. We believe MOCA’s complicity with mass incarceration-which disproportionately affects Black and Latinx people-and the gentrification of Chinatown undermines its aforementioned purpose. This includes removing any existing posts of or related to our work from MOCA’s site and social media accounts. ![]() Because of this, we have no choice but to withdraw our permission for MOCA’s use of our work in any capacity, including at the upcoming Responses the exhibition and accompanying programs on July 13, 14 and beyond, the One World Collection, and on MOCA’s social media and website. We also learned of MOCA Board of Director Co-Chair Jonathan Chu’s role in the gentrification of Chinatown, which includes closing the two first and only unionized restaurants in Chinatown, Silver Palace and more recently Jing Fong. To our great disappointment, we learned of the museum’s acceptance of a $35 million concession from the city to build a new jail in the neighborhood. We have long held respect for MOCA’s mission of celebrating and presenting the experience of Chinese people in America. We would like to thank you again for selecting our work in your upcoming exhibition, Responses: Asian American Voices Resisting the Tides of Racism. ![]() ![]() Sent on July 11, the letter was directed to the museum’s curator, Herb Tam to alert him to their absence from upcoming events. The artists, Colin Chin, and Nicholas Liem, withdrew their pieces from MOCA’s recent exhibition on anti-AAPI violence, Responses: Asian American Voices Resisting the Tides of Racism. While the protests have been reported on the new on-and-off for a couple months, recently an open letter from two artists withdrawing from an exhibition illuminated the conflict for the public stage. On July 15, 2021, protesters gathered to picket the reopening of the Museum of Chinese in America (MOCA), with signs saying things like “Hey MOCA! Return the $35 million to the community,” 1 “Stop racial violence / stop the 24-hour workday,” 2 and “Chinatown is not a museum / stop displacing workers.” 3 From Hyperallergic’s “Godzilla Withdraws From Museum of Chinese in America Retrospective, Citing ‘Complicity’ in NYC Jails.” Jim Henderson/Wikipedia Commons.
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