Responses is an offering to our country in a moment of crisis. Chinese and Asian Americans are being blamed as the genesis of the coronavirus and targeted in assaults across the country, harming their bodies as well as their sense of belonging. To help us navigate what is happening, the exhibition explores the lessons of history and raises a collective voice against the rising tide of anti-Asian hate and violence.

A monumental Timeline of Anti-Asian Racism in America lines the perimeter walls with historic lowlights in the treatment of Asians and Asian Americans. Hand-painted and inscribed by MOCA team and community members, the timeline details events related to American imperialism in Asia, early race riots that uprooted established immigrant communities, discriminatory laws and policies that reinforced Asian American marginalization, intimidation campaigns during the communist Red Scare, and Islamophobia after 9/11, among other injustices. It culminates with an expanded look at the past year’s spike in anti-Asian violence. Artist Homer Shew brings these events to life with newly commissioned murals that reflect the strength of our communities throughout this long history.

The central Response Wall features submissions to MOCA’s OneWorld COVID-19 Special Collection, an initiative to document and preserve stories of collective Asian American resilience, generosity and agency during the pandemic. Since April 2020, we have gathered community voices through documentary photography, video footage, original art and music, protest signs, and social media awareness campaigns. The projected video and soundtrack weaves together excerpts from oral histories conducted over the past year to tell a multi-dimensional story of the pandemic through an Asian American lens.

As part of Responses, MOCA has commissioned new music composers ARKAI (Philip Sheegog and Jonathan Miron) and modern dance company J CHEN PROJECT to create new time-based works responding to and interpreting the exhibition’s themes. Visit our website (mocanyc.org) for live, in-person performance schedules.

We invite and encourage you to add your stories and responses to the wall. By doing so, you can boost the healing energy of our voices joined into a singular cry for justice.

Responses: Asian American Voices Resisting the Tides of Racism and related programs are made possible with the generous support of The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Shelley & Donald Rubin Foundation, Art Dealers Association of America (ADAA) Foundation, Bloomberg Philanthropies, Con Edison, Women of Color in Fundraising and Philanthropy (WOC)®, Stash, and the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and the New York State Legislature. Special thank you to Edward Cheng, former Director of Communications, for his tireless contributions to the OneWorld COVID-19 Special Collection oral histories. In gratitude for a generous gift from MacKenzie Scott, MOCA is able to reopen the Museum and present this exhibit with free admission for all.

Learn more about the exhibition with exclusive audio commentary from our curator and from the participating artists in our digital guide on Bloomberg Connects, the free arts and culture app. Download the app here.