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This year in January, MOCA had the opportunity to partner with East Side House to set up a pop-up exhibition at the Winter Show 2023 at the Park Avenue Armory. The three-booth exhibit How We Dressed in the Beautiful Country – Selections from the Museum of Chinese in America’s Fashion and Costume Collections was set up along the hallways leading up to the main gallery space where vendors around the world display their art pieces that are up for sale.

Select garment pieces were put up for display, including Aileen Pei’s qipaos and our CMTA (Chinese Musical and Theatrical Association). We also had information regarding our plans for a new MOCA set up for visitors to get an idea of what’s in store for the museum in the coming years.

Overall, the entire display setup took us two full days with the help of the MOCA Collections, the MOCA Curatorial, and A. M. Art Conservation teams. Here are some shots of our work throughout the setup process!

Pre-exhibition set up at MOCA Workshop

Two weeks prior to the opening of the Winter Show, the MOCA team began preparations for the exhibition. Dress forms and armatures were made and tested and garment selection and display text were finalized. Since the Park Avenue Armory is quite a ways away, we wanted to make sure most tasks were done prior to arrival to ensure displays and garment mounting goes smoothly.

MOCA Collections Anna Ng applying "Marvelseal" to onto the horizontal support for the opera dress armature in order to serve as a protective barrier. Photo courtesy of Rachael Arenstein.
MOCA Collections Harvey Ngai and Anna Ng cutting foam to size to help give dress forms more shape and support to prevent sagging. Photo courtesy of Nancy Ng Tam.
MOCA Collections Anna Ng and Minna Kim testing the fitting of a qipao on a dress form. Photo courtesy of Rachael Arenstein.
A.M. Art Anne Léculier King reinforcing and securing loose or vulnerable parts of one of our opera costumes. Photo courtesy of Rachael Arenstein.
A.M. Art Rachael Arenstein and MOCA Collections Minna Kim preparing to mount the dress form into our transportation plinth. Photo courtesy of Nancy Ng Tam.
MOCA Collections Minna Kim working on fitting the qipaos into individual dress forms. Photo courtesy of Nancy Ng Tam.

Displays mounting

We began setup on location a few days prior to opening. Display boards were printed and backed with foam and mounted onto prefabricated walls. We were provided with three exhibition booths to show off our MOCA Collections.

MOCA Curators Herb Tam and Andrew Rebatta discussing placement of foam display. Photo courtesy of Harvey Ngai.
Display board mounting for the New MOCA exhibition booth. Photo courtesy of Harvey Ngai.
New MOCA Exhibit. Photo courtesy of Harvey Ngai.
MOCA Curator Andrew Rebatta checking the display levels to match angle. Photo courtesy of Harvey Ngai.
Aileen Pei's exhibit booth coming together. Photo courtesy of Harvey Ngai.
CMTA costume exhibit booth. A.M. ART Rachael Arenstein and Anne Léculier King preparing to mount the display boards. Photo courtesy of Harvey Ngai.

Dress mounting!

After the text was mounted, the dresses were unboxed and final preparations were made to mount them onto prefabricated platforms. A lot of final adjustments and touch-ups had to be done but seeing the finished display made it all worth it.

Anna Ng and Minna Kim shaping the dress forms in preparation for qipao display. Photo courtesy of Harvey Ngai.
Andrew Rebatta preparing the platform for mounting steel rods for Qipao dress forms
Qipaos attached to the platforms, some work need to be done to touch up the color of the dress form rods and wrinkles on the dresses. Photo courtesy of Harvey Ngai.
Anna Ng and Harvey Ngai touch up the platform with acrylic paint. Photo courtesy of Rachael Arenstein.
Minna Kim preparing the dress forms with skirt supports and extra batting underneath to give the dress more structure and definition. Photo courtesy of Harvey Ngai.
A M Art's Rachael Arenstein measuring the lux levels to ensure the qipaos are displayed in reasonable light levels. Photo courtesy of Harvey Ngai.
MOCA team working to put the final touches to the exhibit. Photo courtesy of Harvey Ngai.
Aileen's qipaos ready for exhibition. Photo courtesy of Harvey Ngai.
A.M. Art and MOCA Collections Yue Ma posing with the finalized CMTA exhibit. Photo courtesy of Rachael Arenstein.