Prospect New Orleans: A Contemporary Art Triennial with a Visionary Mission

Origins and Reorientation

Prospect New Orleans, initially launched as a biennial, was aimed at driving growth and recovery from the devastating impact of Hurricane Katrina. Founded by Dan Cameron, its primary goal was to breathe new life into the city—an established artistic hub significantly affected by the hurricane's destruction. Today, the sixth edition of this contemporary-art triennial, orchestrated by curator Miranda Lash and artist Ebony G. Patterson, challenges the narrative of New Orleans as a city needing rescue. Instead, they present it as a symbol of resilience, offering insights to cities like New York and Los Angeles which are relatively newcomers to environmental calamities.

“This framework postulates New Orleans as already living in the future,” remarked Patterson at one of the exhibition’s opening events. Lash added, “We want to show New Orleans as a gift and as a scout.” Their exhibition, titled The Future Is Present, The Harbinger Is Home (open until February 2), reimagines New Orleans as a place where the impacts of climate change and historical challenges are already being navigated.

Exhibition Overview

Displaying works from 51 artists at 21 venues, the exhibition powerfully addresses themes of adaptability. These artworks explore not only New Orleans' context but also other regions dealing with climate change, environmental degradation, and colonial aftermath, from Copenhagen to Port-au-Prince. The exhibition redefines the role of art from being an agent of recovery to one of coping with contemporary challenges, resonating with a wider global demographic facing similar issues.

Lash and Patterson note that while New Orleans is often described through unique terms, it is reflective of how much of the world actually lives.

Narratives of Adaptability and Survival

Several artists engage with the themes of resilience through documentary projects. L. Kasimu Harris, a New Orleans-based artist, captures the vanishing Black-owned bars affected by gentrification. His series Vanishing Black Bars & Lounges is displayed at the Ogden Museum and Sweet Lorraine's Jazz Club. Harris's work is a testament to endurance, characterized by his statement: “I was here, I am here and I will be here.”

Likewise, Stephanie Syjuco’s project Phantom Visions (The Lacustrine Village of St. Malo) covers a historical narrative of the first Filipino settlement, connecting it with present concerns of cultural preservation.

Community and Preservation

Hanoi-based Tuan Mami celebrates New Orleans’s Vietnamese community with an interactive project titled Seeding the Future at Xavier University. Through a clay seed-ball workshop, Mami fosters community interaction, emphasizing resilience through shared stories and plantings. A similar expression is seen in Tuan Andrew Nguyen's video at the New Orleans Museum of Art, which delves into intergenerational family dynamics and losses inherent to immigrant experiences.

Public Transformations

Artists at Prospect utilize historical contexts for futuristic visions. Raúl de Nieves transforms a former Confederate monument into a symbol for queer and Latinx communities, reclaiming spaces associated with oppression. Ashley Teamer echoes this theme by erecting Tambourine Cypress at Lemann Park, creating a communal instrument and envisioning a future without the divisive Claiborne Expressway.

Imagining Futures

The Ford Motor Plant plays host to ambitious works like Proposals for Loops in Linear Time by Zalika Azim and others, combining ancient and futuristic symbols. This exhibit includes the notable Mexica Falcon—a Star Wars homage created in adobe—and reflections on cultural identity through Azim's kinetic sculptures.

In another imaginative leap, Blas Isasi’s installation 1,001,532 CE at the Ford Plant projects a post-human Peru, exploring the impact of historical events on distant futures through sculptural forms.

Elemental Art and Environmental Dialogues

Didier William’s works at the Historic New Orleans Collection highlight the connection between the city’s wetland ecology and its colonial history. His focus on cypress trees bridges Haitian roots with American experiences, underlining themes of displacement.

Hannah Chalew's Orphan Well Gamma Garden at the Contemporary Arts Center transforms remnants of oil infrastructure into new ecological forms, challenging Louisiana’s reliance on the oil and gas sectors.

Reflections and Future Pathways

Prospect.6 is replete with diverse artistic voices exploring crucial contemporary issues. While not every piece perfectly aligns with the thematic scope, the overall exhibition presents a rich tapestry of the past, present, and speculative futures—all with New Orleans as a guiding beacon.