Lorraine O’Grady – Art Is. . . (Troup Front) (1983/2009), digital C-print, 16 x 20 in. Courtesy Alexander Gray Associates, New York.
After financial uncertainty necessitated a year’s delay, the second edition of the New Orleans international contemporary art biennial is underway, with members of the press getting their first look Oct 20. The exhibition officially opens to the public Oct 22 with a parade organized by the new media artist and composer R Luke DuBois. The event’s founder, the curator and ART iT contributor Dan Cameron, returns as director of this year’s edition.
With only 27 participants, Prospect.2 is a more focused affair than its 81-member strong predecessor, but still mixes local and international artists on display at a range of sites and institutions across the city. These include Sophie Calle’s insertion of her own photographs, clothing and other effects into the rooms of the historic 1850 House of the Louisiana State Museum – furnished to preserve the atmosphere of New Orleans society at the height of the city’s prosperity in the 1850s – and an installation of William Eggleston’s black-and-white photo series “Nightclub Portraits” (1973) and film Stranded in Canton (1974-2005) at the Old US Mint, also run by the Louisiana State Museum.
The exhibition disperses artists through neighborhoods including the French Quarter, Tremé, the Warehouse District and Tulane and Xavier Universities, extending even further afield to the city of Lafayette, about two hours’ drive away, where Icelandic artist Ragnar Kjartansson is presenting a video installation at Acadiana Center for the Arts. The main venues are the Contemporary Arts Center, where Cameron is visual arts director, and the New Orleans Museum of Art.
Left: William Eggleston – Untitled (From The Seventies: Volume Two) (c 1970s), dye-transfer print, 16 x 20 in. © Eggleston Artistic Trust, courtesy Cheim & Read, New York. Right: Ragnar Kjartansson – Song (2011), video, duration 6 hrs 6 min. Courtesy the artist; Luhring Augustine, New York; and i8 Galleri, Reykjavik.
The parade by R Luke DuBois is part of three performances scheduled for opening day of Prospect.2. DuBois’s The Marigny Parade will feature nearly 350 musicians from three of New Orleans’ best known high school and middle school marching bands playing a new composition by the artist. Divided into five groups setting off from five different locations, the bands will converge on Washington Square Park in the Faubourg Marigny for the finale of the piece. Also taking place on the 22nd are Joyce J Scott’s performance, Miss Veronica’s Veil, alternating between songs, spoken word and actions to reinterpret the story of Saint Veronica, and William Pope.L’s performance and video installation Blink, which will project photos donated by New Orleans residents from the back of an ice cream truck that will traverse the city from sundown to sunrise the following day.
Other notable participants among the 27 exhibiting artists are mixed-media artist Nick Cave, Sweden’s Jonas Dahlberg, Vietnam-born photographer An-My Lê, Chilean-born multimedia artist Ivan Navarro, Italian multimedia artist Francesco Vezzoli and Japan’s Tsuyoshi Ozawa. The exhibition continues through Jan 29, 2012.
Related:
Dan Cameron on ART iT