Omer Fast's installation receives criticism for perpetuating racist Chinese stereotypes

Berlin-based artist, Omer Fast’s transformation of the James Cohan gallery in New York’s facade and interior into “what they were like before gentrification,” was met with protests last Sunday from the art collective Chinatown Art Brigade (CAB) who claimed the show perpetuates racist stereotypes about the local community.

As part of the show, Omer turned the gallery into “the waiting room of a Chinatown business with an eclectic aesthetic,” featuring Chinese menus, graffiti, dents and distressed tiles. As a result, members of CAB – alongside representatives from Committee Against Anti-Asian Violence and Decolonize This Place – occupied the inside of the gallery holding signs reading, for example “displace racist art! Not Chinatown tenants,” and taped a statement about the show to a pole outside of it. Criticism of the show was initially sparked following Danielle Wu’s article published on Hyperallergic that labelled the installation as a “caricature” and a gesture of “colonialist aggression”.

In the wake of these protests, on Wednesday, both the gallery and Omer Fast released statements addressing the issue. The James Cohan gallery stated: “Omer Fast’s work provides an intentionally-uncomfortable look inward – both at himself, an immigrant to the US, and at the Gallery, a new arrival to an established neighbourhood. That this work would generate such a variety of strong reactions – positive and negative, reinforces the paradox it is trying to capture.” The gallery added: “We not only take these expressions seriously, we’ve tried to honour them. People are free to draw their own conclusions about art, but they should also be given the opportunity to do so – without censorship, barriers or intimidation.”

Omer Fast, on the other hand, stated that he is “not surprised there have been critical reactions. I completely understand people’s need to push back.” He describes his experiences as a teenage immigrant in America, how he, and others, had to “reconcile a foreign identity with a local one,” a topic that he is exploring through the “tension between appearance and essence,” in his installation. However, he went on to say: “I am surprised and distressed by the vitriol and name-calling. A group of protestors hung a large poster outside the show, which accuses the gallery of representing ‘a non-US and non-New York artist.’ I expect this sort of characterisation from right-wing trolls carrying tiki-torches and howling for walls to be built. I don’t expect it from left-wing activists in lower Manhattan.”