Prospect.2 director Cameron describes international art exhibit to come 2011/06/30 at 6:02 pm
The Prospect.2 New Orleans international exhibit that begins Oct. 22 will provide Crescent City art lovers with a selection of solo shows by accomplished artists from as far away as Poland, Chile and Vietnam. It will also highlight the work of a handful of New Orleans notables. But Prospect.2 will be leaner and more compact than Prospect.1, the mammoth citywide show that put the Crescent City on the international art map in 2008.
Take a video tour of Prospect.1 here.
Instead of the 80 individual installations, many of which were scattered in remote locations across the city, such as Mark Bradfords plywood Noahs ark that arose in a Lower 9th Ward lot, Prospect. 2 will feature 26 indoor shows, mostly housed in major institutions such as the New Orleans Museum of Art, Contemporary Arts Center and Ogden Museum of Southern Art.
Curator Dan Cameron said that the reason for the reduction in scale is simple: We decided that we wanted to present an exhibit we could pay for.
In the end, Prospect.1 cost $4.5 million, Cameron said. Before the planning of Prospect.2 could begin, Cameron and the board of directors that oversees the nonprofit Prospect shows had to pay off $1 million in debt. The second show was supposed to begin in November 2010, but the frosty economy made it impossible to raise sufficient money; it was postponed for a year. Read about the delay here.
The budget of Prospect.2, which Cameron estimates to be below $2.5 million, will be more manageable, he said.
At times the belt-tightening was painful, Cameron said. A few artists who had agreed to participate, such as celebrated photographer Cindy Sherman, proved to be too pricey for P.2. But, Cameron said, the important thing is to successfully produce a second international show in New Orleans to keep the momentum alive.
Our fortunes have gone up and down, he said. This is the shot we have to keep this tradition part of New Orleans.
In truth, Cameron said, P.1 may have been bigger than necessary. It was, he said, like a rock festival where you couldnt see all the bands. The pared-down P.2 is meant to demonstrate the biennials sustainability. While P.1 was free, P.2 will have an admission fee: $10 for a day pass, $20 for a week pass and $30 for a season pass.