Five Senses of Chinatown captures the unique character of Manhattan Chinatown through artwork by students from local schools, historical artifacts from MOCA’s Collection, and interactive sense stations. MOCA staff collaborated with teachers and students from Transfiguration School, MS 131, and the High School of Dual Language and Asian Studies. Together, they created a diverse range of works—drawings, paintings, collage, poetry and digital artwork—which portray Chinatown through sensory associations of characteristic spaces: homes, public parks, street life, businesses, eateries, grocery stores, and bubble tea shops. To link the present with the past, their work will be shown alongside historical photographs and artifacts of Chinatown from MOCA’s Collection. Five Senses of Chinatown is a collective portrait of the neighborhood as expressed through sights, sounds, smells, tastes, and feelings.

Five Senses of Chinatown and related programs are made possible with the generous support of the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature; public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, in partnership with the City Council; and Bloomberg Philanthropies.