The Mahjong game emphasizes the expulsion of seniors in Chinatown in NYC

In a participatory feat at The Data Through Design Exponate in Brooklyn, the Mahjong tile game is used to investigate what it means to become old, isolated and in a rapidly co-gentle Chinatown-to make it invisible and to enable the viewers to re-correct the neighborhood for the better. “

In an article for the next city, Eliana Perozo describes the project entitled “Aging Outside The Place”. According to Perozo, “the title is a piece in the research area of ​​aging or the ability to stay in your own community and to live independently of the dignity instead of being moved to a care facility or to an older home.”

The participants first read a zine that offers a context on the community and then continues to play a game with hand -painted tiles on a Chinatown card. “Some of them are determined, while others are flexible and represent buildings that are susceptible to gentrification – such as libraries, restaurants, community centers, churches and temples.” To play, players are encouraged to add or take parts – benches, libraries, older houses, soup kitchens and much more – to imagine a quarter in which the residents can age in place. “

The artist hopes that the project will show planners and political decision -makers how their decisions affect the communities. “But she also hopes that it will help people to think about how they can protect their own cultural institutions and the elderly in need of protection in their own neighborhoods.”