4/3 4pm
MOMS PS1
22-25 Jackson Ave, New York, New York 11101
Please join MoMA PS1 for our Spring Open House
Sunday April 3rd, 12:00-6:00 pm, FREE and Open to the Public
Cao Fei: On view April 3–August 31, 2016
3PM* – Conversation with Cao Fei and Klaus Biesenbach
*PLEASE NOTE THAT THE CONVERSATION WILL NOW START AT 3:00 PM
4:00 pm: On the occasion of the opening of her solo exhibition, Cao Fei joins Chinatown based rap group The Notorious MSG for a performance entitled “STRAIGHT OUT OF TIMES.”
The Notorious MSG is a group of performers inspired by a “gangster sensibility” and what they call the “alternative cultural imagination of Chinatown itself.” New York’s Chinatown gives rise to a new social order, entirely different from the social systems in place in many of the “home” countries of Chinatown’s residents. This new order is underground, and provides a safe haven for immigrants and other disenfranchised groups and individuals alike (including, artists) to exist and thrive together. Out of this new camaraderie grows a kind of kinship, and also a resistant power.
In 2006, Cao Fei found The Notorious MSG’s song “Straight our of Canton” on the Internet while she was producing her Hip Hop series, which takes a look at cultural vernacular as enacted by everyday workers and passersby on the street. The song was performed by the three core musicians who comprise the Notorious MSG — performers of Cantonese, Taiwanese and Korean origin who all work at restaurants in New York’s Chinatown.
Upon first meeting and beginning to collaborate with Cao Fei, she quickly became their “Canton Sista!” to quote the group.