Description:Project Mah Jongg is the first exhibition of its kind—taking visitors on an exploration of the game’s cultural meanings through sight, sound, text, and play. The game of mah jongg is explored in dynamic formats throughout the exhibition, including 20th-century popular objects and a visitor-activated soundscape that features clacking tiles, exclamations from games by Jewish-American and Chinese-American players, reminiscences, and vintage music. Large-scale graphics by Isaac Mizrahi, Maira Kalman, Bruce McCall, and Christoph Niemann illustrate mah jongg as an ongoing muse for contemporary artists. A game table at the core of the exhibition invites visitors to engage in the continuing tradition. The exhibition serves as historical treatment of the topic, a placeholder for memory, a generator of whimsy, and a stage set for the game’s continuation. The environment conveys how mah jongg is much more than a game: it is a carrier of fantasy, identity, memory, and meaning.
Created by the Museum of Jewish Heritage — A Living Memorial to the Holocaust in New York City.
Made possible through the generosity of the National Mah Jongg League. Additional support is provided by Sylvia Hassenfeld and 2wice Arts Foundation. Exhibit design by Abbott Miller, Pentagram
Local sponsors include BNY Mellon Wealth Management, Dollar Bank, Margaret Wong & Associates, and Pearl of the Orient