Prospect.4: The Lotus in Spite of the Swamp, November 18, 2017 – February 25, 2018
NEW ORLEANS, LA – Prospect.4: The Lotus in Spite of the Swamp is the fourth iteration of the international contemporary art triennial, on view to the public from November 18, 2017 through February 25, 2018, aligning with the City of New Orleans’ Tricentennial celebration. The New Orleans Museum of Art (NOMA) is among more than 17 venues and sites showcasing works for the citywide exhibition.
Led by Artistic Director Trevor Schoonmaker, Chief Curator of the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University, Prospect.4 brings together 73 artists from North America, Latin America, the Caribbean, Africa, Asia and the European powers that colonized New Orleans, addressing issues of identity, displacement and cultural hybridity within the context of the celebration of the city’s Tricentennial. The theme, The Lotus in Spite of the Swamp, alludes to the city’s unique cultural landscape as a creative force. The artists featured were identified and selected by Schoonmaker and their placement at NOMA was determined in collaboration with NOMA’s curatorial team, taking into consideration how the museum could best compliment the distinctive style of each individual contributor.
These artists include Dawit L. Petros, Xaviera Simmons, Gauri Gill & Rajesh Vangad, Njideka Akunyili Crosby, Alexis Esquivel, and the late Barkley L. Hendricks.
“We are delighted to be a venue for Prospect.4. In close consultation with our curators, Russell Lord and Katie Pfohl, Trevor Schoonmaker has selected a group of artists who will be at their best advantage at NOMA, and whose work is in keeping with NOMA’s institutional goals and priorities,” said Susan Taylor, NOMA’s Montine McDaniel Freeman Director.
“NOMA’s installation brings together a group of artists that explore the ways individual and cultural identity is shaped across global networks of communication and exchange, and considers how these forces might meet and meld in a rich, multicultural city like New Orleans,” said Katie Pfohl, NOMA’s Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art.
“Working both within and beyond the conventions of portraiture, landscape and text, these artists find inspiration in the meeting of the self and the collective, and the personal and the political,” added Russell Lord, NOMA’s Freeman Family Curator of Photographs. “They examine how historical ideologies and visual traditions inform the present, and raise questions about what direction we might take in the future.”
Catalogue
A fully illustrated catalogue, published by DelMonico Prestel books and Prospect New Orleans, will feature documentation on participating artists and include essays by the Artistic Director Trevor Schoonmaker, with contributions by William Cordova, Miranda Lash, Omar López-Chahoud, Wangechi Mutu, Filipa Oliveira, Ebony G. Patterson, Ylva Rouse, Ned Sublette and Zoé Whitley along with more than 20 other contributors including Russell Lord, NOMA’s Freeman Family Curator of Photographs and Katie Pfohl, NOMA’s Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art.
About Prospect New Orleans
A Civic Adventure/An Artistic Experiment Prospect New Orleans is a citywide triennial of contemporary art. Emphasizing collaborative partnerships, Prospect presents the work of diverse local, national, and international artists in unique and culturally exceptional venues, creating an optimistic cartography through the education and engagement of residents and visitors. For more information, visit prospectneworleans.org.
Prospect New Orleans and Prospect.4: The Lotus in Spite of the Swamp is made possible through generous support from Founding Benefactor Toby Devan Lewis and our generous supporters including the Lambent Foundation Fund of Tides Foundation; The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc.; Nancy A. Nasher; David J. Haemisegger; VIA Art Fund; The Helis Foundation; Whitney Bank; the Joan Mitchell Foundation; the Reily Foundation/Stephen Reily Family Fund; the Zemurray Foundation; Gustaf W. McIlhenny Foundation; the Keller Family Foundation; RosaMary Foundation; Arts Council New Orleans; Accion Cultural Española (AC/E); New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Foundation; the National Council of Jewish Women/New Orleans Chapter; the Jewish Endowment Foundation of Louisiana; and Regions Bank. Generous in-kind support has also been provided by the Hyatt the Hyatt Regency New Orleans, The New Orleans Advocate, the Domain Companies, Ace Hotel New Orleans, DW Drums, FHI Social Practices Lab at Duke University, Habana Works, and Joan Mitchell Center.
About NOMA and the Besthoff Sculpture Garden
The New Orleans Museum of Art, founded in 1910 by Isaac Delgado, houses nearly 40,000 art objects encompassing 5,000 years of world art. Works from the permanent collection, along with continuously changing special exhibitions, are on view in the museum’s 46 galleries Fridays from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.; Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sundays from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. The adjoining Sydney and Walda Besthoff Sculpture Garden features work by over 60 artists, including several of the 20th century’s master sculptors. The Sculpture Garden is open seven days a week: 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. The New Orleans Museum of Art and the Besthoff Sculpture Garden are fully accessible to handicapped visitors and wheelchairs are available from the front desk. For more information about NOMA, call (504) 658-4100 or visit www.noma.org. Wednesdays are free admission days for Louisiana residents, courtesy of The Helis Foundation. (May not include special exhibitions.) Teenagers (ages 13-19) receive free admission every day through the end of the year, courtesy of The Helis Foundation.
Contact Margaux Krane, Communications and Marketing Manager, for additional information and hi-res images: mkrane@noma.org, 504.658.4016.