The Borough Based Liberation Project

PROGRAMMING // IN PROGRESS - PLEASE CHECK BACK FOR LINKS TO RSVP & LATEST UPDATES

Open Hours (aside from our events): Tues - Sun 12-5pm

EXHIBITIONS, ART AND EPHEMERA

Art, photography, ephemera and socially engaged art presented by CAB, the W.O.W. Project, Cal Hsiao, Tif Ng, Sonia Tsang, Chris Deng, Asians 4 Palestine, Sunnie Liu, Malaika Temba, Louise Yeung, Daphne Lundi, Dandelions / BILM / Ashiñwaka / Legaia / Fridays for Future NYC, selected artists from our Abolition Art Open Call, and others.

GROUND LEVEL

Selections from Chinatown Art Brigade’s Archives

These works represents a small selection from their eight year history. The exhibition includes archival material, photographs, videos, placekeeping maps, large scale projections, as well as banners, posters and other direct action ephemera. One of the main features of the exhibition is their mapping and multimedia installation that centers the stories of people most directly impacted by displacement, with the long ­term goal of protecting and preserving our beloved neighborhood. The project features short videos and testimonials from tenants, residents and housing activists telling their own stories. Interactive media platforms like Augmented Reality (AR), QR codes, and mapping are used to present these stories to help viewers unpack the lived experience of evictions and gentrification.

The selection highlights their abolition organizing against the jailscraper bring built in Chinatown that is being touted as the “tallest jail in the world”. We hope this exhibition will not only inspire people to take creative action, but also help unleash our collective radical imagination to fight for a degentrified, liberated and abolitionist future.

Selections from the W.O.W. Project

The W.O.W. Project’s display includes a selection of artwork, banners, signs and other ephemera that were activated during their “Springs from Below: People’s Abolition Parade” march through the streets of Chinatown in June 2024.Also on view is an abolition reading nook. Visitors are invited to interact with the display of books and resources.

"Chinatown is a Site of Resistance” photo exhibition curated by Cal Hsiao, Tif Ng, Sonia Tsang, Chris Deng

As the city continues construction of the world’s tallest jail in Chinatown, the neighborhood has organized protests, rallies, and even lawsuits to stop or delay the jail's progress. Community photographers have documented these actions and meticulously chronicle the site of their changing neighborhood. Through photographs and ephemera, Chinatown is a Site of Resistance showcases how a community documents itself and its own history of resistance in the face of the carceral state. The artists in this exhibit provoke questions around resistance, provide context of the space, and envision an abolitionist future. Chinatown does not want a megajail to be built in the neighborhood, that much is clear. However there are a multitude of opinions on what comes next. Participants are invited to consider: What might an abolitionist future look like in Chinatown?"

Works from Asians 4 Palestine

Featuring photos, video, ephemera and zines from the last 10 months of protest against the genocide in Gaza and in solidarity with the Free Palestine movement.

Selected Works from Our Artist Open Call for an Abolitionist Future (installed 9/26)

These are selected works from CAB’s Open Call inviting artists to respond to the theme of “Abolitionist Futures” spotlighting local resistance to the Chinatown jail and gentrification, linking struggles for liberation from NYC to Palestine. We asked people to send their images and messages of solidarity, defiance, resilience and resistance. We hope these works and this Borough Based Liberation Project at large inspires you to seize the moment and join the collective fight for an abolitionist future. Featured work by Christina Zhang, Clare Fentress, kayeLBA, NAFISA Ferdous, Maia Villalba, Art Against Displacement, Julie Lee, William Chan, Noah Zhou, Chanika Svetvilas, Ricardo Miranda Zúñiga, Chinatown Photo Album, City of Abolished Prisons, Ash Marinaccio, Angeline Tran, Vivian Vo, An Na Vi, Le Tran, Anh Nguyet Tran, Hoang Tran, Jennifer Fu, River 瑩瑩 Dandelion

MEZZANINE LEVEL

“Amplitude” by Parallax: Malaika Temba and Sunnie Liu

A two-channel video envisions community-driven alternatives to incarceration sites in Harlem and Chinatown. By highlighting anonymous responses from both neighborhoods, the work reaffirms that both our struggles and liberation are intertwined. The installation and participatory social practice define abolition as an ongoing process and constant practice. Through abolitionist reimagining, Amplitude invigorates collective dreaming of what is possible and needed in Black and Asian communities instead of carceral logic and systems.

“Play + Placemaking for Afro-Asian Solidarity” by Daphne Lundi and Louise Yeung

How can we design cities to build solidarity between Black and Asian communities? "Play + Placemaking for Afro-Asian Solidarity" was a workshop led by artists and urban planners Daphne Lundi and Louise Yeung at the Laundromat Project in January 2024. Using found objects, participants reimagined places that have historically been sites of tension between Black and Asian communities in New York City. Tapping into the power of play and worldbuilding, participants created places for healing and reconciliation through transformed communal spaces, cross-diasporic food exchanges, and intergenerational play.