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“Yesterday we said tomorrow”
PROSPECT NEW ORLEANS RETURNS FOR ITS FIFTH ITERATION, WITH A THEME PERHAPS TOO APT By Alexandra Kennon
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hat is Prospect?
Inspired by the Venice Biennale that began in 1895 as an exhibition of art and design from around the globe, Prospect is the only exhibition of its kind in the United States. The comprehensive triennial exhibition takes place every three years across the city of New Orleans— in museums, in galleries, and in often unexpected public spaces. Curated by various leaders of the art world, the exhibition features artists from all over the globe to contribute existing and newly-commissioned works that speak to the year’s theme and engage with the unique issues and cultures of the South.
How did Prospect begin? And why New Orleans?
The idea was formed when Dan Cameron—an established leader in the art world at that point, having served as Senior Curator at the New Museum of Contempo30
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Keni Anwar, “first dance,” 2018. Digital collage. Courtesy of the artist. Anwar’s work will be displayed at the Contemporary Arts Center during Prospect.5.
rary Art for over a decade, in addition to holding positions as artistic director of the Istanbul Biennial and co-organizer of the Taipei Biennial—visited New Orleans in early 2006, just a few months after Hurricane Katrina. Throughout the city, Cameron observed an overwhelming sentiment of frustration at New Orleans’ slow recovery. It occurred to Cameron, in collaboration with other leaders in the New Orleans arts community like gallery owner Arthur Roger and NOMA curator Bill Fagaly, that the U.S. was lacking a large-scale international biennial or triennial in the style of that in Venice and other cities worldwide. New Orleans’ richly varied cultural legacy as a port city, as well as its history of hosting one of the earliest international art exhibitions in the nation at the 1884 World Cotton Centennial, coupled with the needs that had arisen following Katrina, made it a clear choice for location.
“New Orleans truly, I think, is an American city that has a very unique and particular mix of cultural influences. I think it’s very emblematic of particular threads in U.S. history,” said Prospect.5 Co-Artistic Director Diana Nawi. “And I think it has a really outsized cultural reputation—it’s a very small city, and it has so much influence in the world…it also exists in a global cultural imagination outside of itself.” In January 2007 Cameron founded the nonprofit U.S. Biennial, Inc., gathered a volunteer board of directors, and set about securing funding and staff to realize his vision for Prospect New Orleans. Prospect.1 opened in November, 2008, and marked one of the first instances of contemporary art’s implementation as a form of post-crisis activism. “Prospect.1 I think of as something pretty significant when we talk about art history of the aughts, or really critical moments in contemporary art,” Nawi said. That premier event remains the
