Project Approach
Immigration exhibits the concept of duality. Leaving your homeland to escape poverty, famine and prosecution, but breaking up family and relationships. Leaving for America, a place of opportunity, hope and acceptance to be faced with xenophobia, rejection and displacement. Facing the pressures of assimilation and monoculture, while trying to preserve your cultural identity. An internal struggle lies within immigrants between the story they tell society and the story they tell themselves. All the while, western culture is formed, molded and reconfigured to integrate aspects of these immigrant cultures - many times at the expense of immigrants as hostility persists and contribution goes unrecognized.
How can an interpretive environment address immigrant influence on western culture and prosperity to create an impact on the perception of immigrants and assimilation?
Objective
To identify and document immigrant influence on western culture and prosperity through an interpretative environment that will foster cultural awareness to enhance immigrant perception and assimilation and preserve cultural identities in an intimate exhibition.
Immigration and Assimilation: 1880’s to Present
A push and pull between American “natives” and immigrants is evident over the years - at the root, a competition for resources. As the “gateway to a land of opportunity,” immigrants arrived in New York City with ideas of hope, acceptance and opportunity. As the underlying premise in “Gotham: A History of New York City to 1898” by Edwin G Burrows and Mike Wallace, the history of New York and the individuals who populated it, is the story of our nation. However, immigrants were often faced with xenophobia and rejection. In Gangs of New York, Martin Scorsese’s late 1800’s tale of New York, conflict between “natives” and immigrants is ruthlessly depicted as immigrants fight for a sense of place and belonging. Immigrant laws become more restrictive, hostility intensifies and churches become places of sanctuary. As time, goes on, new waves of immigrants enter America. Pop culture and media begin to play a role in producing stereotypes. Hostility persists and the stories, realities and impacts of immigrants go unshared and unrecognized.
Stories of Immigration and Assimilation
Mass movement to America from specific countries can easily be seen when hearing from multiple generations of immigrants. Beginning with an influx of immigrants from Europe in the early to mid 1900’s, America was viewed as a place of opportunity and wealth, a place of escape from poverty and famine. The late 1900’s witnessed mass movement from the Caribbean and Latin America - with Immigrants often seeking refugee and sanctuary. Today, though immigrants still come to America for opportunity and sanctuary, many seek exploration and new perspectives. However, all generations have commonalties. America is consistently viewed as a fantasy land - dominated by Hollywood, fame, wealth and opportunity - but always later realized as a place where one must work hard to achieve success and acceptance. Immigrants often have a shared experience of living in “survival mode.” They must work hard, are often alone, and must quickly learn the ways and culture of their new home to be prosperous.
Marianna Culella
Homeland: Roccamena, Province of Palermo, Sicily, Italy
Immigrated to America: 1960
Age when immigrated: 20
Biagio Giambalvo
Homeland: Roccamena, Province of Palermo, Sicily, Italy
Immigrated to America: 1965
Age when immigrated: 31
Daisy Torres
Homeland: Havana, Cuba
Immigrated to America: 1986
Age when immigrated: 13
Maria Alvarez
Homeland: Río San Juan, Dominican Republic
Immigrated to America: 1995
Age when immigrated: 26
Charon Hu
Homeland: Hong Kong
Immigrated to America: 2012
Age when immigrated: 13
Aleksandra Zatorska
Homeland: Poland
Immigrated to America: 2017
Age when immigrated: 26
Proposal
A concealed exhibition, acting as a structural force in the center of New York City, will deliver a curated experience of discovery, interaction and self-learning. Relationships and dialogues will form to foster cultural awareness, bridge gaps and inform visitor beliefs, values and attitudes as they are exposed to new stories, journey’s and influences that directly affect their everyday life.
Consumer Involvement
This exhibition is created to attract New York “natives” to develop an awareness and understanding of the immigrant experience. As an intimate, highly curated experience, visits are pre-arranged. Along with tracking visitor content consumption, behaviors, and patterns pre-visit, genetic data will be collected as well. Records are gathered, analyzed, documented and distributed. A physical and digital newspaper and blog entry on the visitors lineage will be delivered at the summation of their visit to provide insight on how it has been formed, molded and developed by a unity of diverse cultures.
CAH Cards “Resources.” Center for Advanced Hindsight, advanced-hindsight.com/resources/.
Behavioral Economics - Advanced Hindsight Constraints
The decisions and actions made by individuals are affected by psychological, cognitive, emotional, cultural and social factors. Many times, Immigrants experience cognitive overload which leads to mental distress. By understanding the behavioral economics of immigrants and working within constraints, the exhibition can be designed with the integration of empathy and awareness.
Goal
This project aims to extend globally. Physical and digital narratives of the exhibition are seamlessly integrated to provide an experience that enables awareness and understanding of immigrants influence on host culture. This will pave an empathetic course for the future, while preserving the cultural roots of the past.