On Wednesday, Prospect New Orleans announced the details of its third biennial exhibition of international contemporary art, “Prospect.3”.
The three-month exhibition opens in October with about 60 artists from around the globe. The first Prospect international art show in 2007 brought art-world stars and collectors to the city, and at least one critic called it “the greatest art exhibit in New Orleans history.”
Franklin Sirmans is the head of contemporary art at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and the Artistic Director of P.3. He says the biennial offers New Orleans and the United States a chance to host the type of high-profile art event popular in other cities around the world.
“I think the big thing is this being an American biennial, and the United States not having an international biennial in the way that an Italy does or a Germany does or even an Istanbul or Gwangju, and now it does,” Sirmans said.
He said that New Orleans is an ideal context for Prospect 3.
“Working from the point of view of being a show about international contemporary art, with international contemporary artists, in a city that is already so very international and has so much to say about this country, I honestly could not think of a better place to do an exhibition of this sort.”
The artists’ work will be shown at 14 venues and additional installation sites in the city and will address themes like “The South,” “The New Orleans Experience,” and “Seeing Oneself in the Other.”
One of the highlights of the biennial will be a Jean-Michel Basquiat exhibition, “Basquiat and the Bayou,” at The Ogden Museum Of Southern Art. The exhibit will showcase the artist’s engagement with New Orleans and Southern themes.
Exhibition spaces for the show include City Park, the Contemporary Arts Center, Dillard University, and The New Orleans Museum of Art.