Prospect.6 in New Orleans to Provide Safe Harbour

News Prospect New Orleans Begins Staged Opening Amid Infections, Storms Sam Gaskin

Prospect New Orleans, the triennial contemporary art exhibition held in Louisiana, Southern U.S., announced the highlights of its sixth edition co-directed by curator Miranda Lash and artist Ebony G. Patterson.

From 2 November 2024 to 2 February 2025, Prospect.6: The Future Is Present, The Harbinger Is Home will explore notions of home within the context of New Orleans’ unique cultural, geographical, and environmental identity.

Fifty-one artists will present work at over 20 venues throughout the city. Locations range from museums such as Contemporary Arts Center, New Orleans, and New Orleans African American Museum to Sweet Lorraine’s Jazz Club, Music Box Village, and Ford Motor’s assembly plant.

During opening weekend, artist Raúl de Nieves will debut an installation inspired by Catholic iconography and New Orleans’ Carnival culture. Drag wrestling collective Chokehole will perform as part of the activation, as will the Edna Karr High School marching band.

At Contemporary Arts Center, New Orleans, where the majority of works are situated, are works by artists Shannon Alonzo, Stephanie Syjuco, and Yee I-Lann, among others, who are known to contend with notions of displacement and engage with historical revisionism.

’[Miranda and I] are both drawn to the historical complexities of the city, and New Orleans’ role as a harbinger,’ Patterson told Ocula.

Lash and Patterson appealed to New Orleans’ history as a former French colony and slave market, and the environmental challenges it faces today, to position the city as a platform to discuss vital questions of climate change, economic migration, and colonial inheritances.

Notably, Prospect New Orleans was established as a symbol of resilience in 2007, in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. Its previous edition, Prospect.5, was postponed for the second time to 2021 due to Hurricane Ida.

Marking the 50th anniversary of the Vietnam War, new commissions by artists Tuấn Andrew Nguyễn, Christian Việt Ðinh, and Tuan Mami will explore the legacy of Vietnamese immigration to the U.S. Gulf Coast.

At Xavier University of Louisiana Art Gallery, Mami’s installation, Seeding the Future (Vietnamese Immigrating Garden (2024), will invite visitors to join elders from the local Vietnamese community in sharing stories and creating seed pods—a symbol of hope for those away from home. Nguyễn will debut Quietly Amongst the Disquiet at Ogden Museum’s Hayden Library, a film and live performance with a ‘living soundtrack’ by Thảo Nguyễn.

As part of the performance Reverence to the Refugee (2024), Đinh will stage a royal Vietnamese-inspired banquet honouring community leaders in New Orleans East at the non-profit organisation VIET (Vietnamese Initiatives in Economic Training) on the closing weekend, with further performances, workshops, and panel talks scheduled throughout the exhibition. —[O]

Main image: Yee I-Lann, with weaving by Kak Sanah, Kak Kinnohung, Kak Budi, Kak Leleng, Kak Horma, Makcik Billung, Kak Roziah, Adik Dela, Adik Erna, Abang Boby, Adik Alini, Adik Aisha, Adik Darwisa, Adik Marsha, Adik Dayang, Adik Tasya, Adik Shima, Adik Umairah, Abang Tularan, TIKAR/MEJA (2018–2023). Bajau Sama DiLaut Pandanus weave and commercial chemical dye, 60 woven mats, sizes variable. Exhibition view: World Classroom: Contemporary Art through School Subjects, Mori Art Museum, Tokyo (19 April–24 September 2021). Courtesy the artist and Silverlens Gallery, Manila/New York. Photo: Furukawa Yuya.