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Applause - 3-29-2019 -Exhibits Celebrate moCa's Early Days and Conversations With Strangers
"The Mending Project" invites people to have a conversation with a stranger. Visitors are to bring an item of clothing for a volunteer mender to fix or embellish at the museum. The mender then sews the item on the spot and chats with the visitor. The idea is for the visitor to then leave that item at moCa to become tethered to other articles of clothing as part of a visual display.
Artist Lee Mingwei shared his vision for "The Mending Project" with volunteers in Cleveland before the exhibit opened so they could carry out the concept. The work originated from Mingwei's personal experiences on September 11, 2001, as he wondered if his partner, who worked inside the World Trade Center, was alive.
"At that moment, I went home and took out everything I needed to repair (and) started repairing until I heard the key lock turn, and there he was standing covered in ash and blood with six other strangers behind him that he collected along the path," Mingwei said.
The project was a way to create something positive from a tragedy and is part of a larger exhibition, "You Are Not a Stranger," that encourages conversations.
March 29, 2019