10/11/2009
Prospect.2
Different Venues, New Orleans
Second New Orleans International Contemporary Art Biennial
Curated by Dan Cameron
Prospect.2, the second iteration of the New Orleans biennial, will launch on Saturday, November 13, 2010 and run through Sunday, February 13, 2011. Produced by U.S. Biennial, it is the largest biennial of international contemporary art in the United States and, following the success of Prospect.1 in 2008, one of the most important arts events on the international calendar. Prospect.2 will be presenting more than 60 artists in individual and group exhibitions, which will spread throughout the city. Dan Cameron, who founded Prospect New Orleans, is once again curating the programs, while Barbara Motley, a local arts and culture leader, joined the team as the new Executive Director and will work with Cameron to achieve the ambitious goals set for the biennial in 2010 and subsequent years.
Prospect.2 will present the work of local, national, and international artists from more than 20 countries and from diverse cultural, generational and artistic backgrounds. Each artist in the exhibition will be provided with a dedicated space or venue located in sites throughout the New Orleans metropolitan area. Many of the world's most promising and/or recognized artists will be invited to develop major new projects to be premiered in New Orleans during the biennial. The full list of artists and venues will be announced in the spring of 2010.
"New Orleans is a city that was always destined to have an important role in the international cultural dialogue," said Dan Cameron. "Prospect.1 was in many ways an experiment and we are entering its second iteration with much more certainty about our capacity to produce the event. But the same principle that presided over the founding of Prospect New Orleans remains, and will continue to remain, connecting people with art on the most fundamental level".
Prospect.2 follows the successful run of Prospect.1 from November 2008 through January 2009. Having achieved extraordinary critical acclaim and enormous coverage from the media, both nationally and internationally, the inaugural edition of the biennial attracted 42,000 visitors and generated over 23 million USD in economic activity. An estimated 22,000 attendees came from outside New Orleans, spending over 13 million USD on hotels, restaurants, shopping and entertainment. In its inaugural year, Prospect.1 New Orleans featured 24 exhibition venues, occupied a combined 200,000 square feet of space, and was spread widely over miles of the city's eclectic and historic neighborhoods. Prospect.2 is anticipated to attract twice the number of visitors and have an even greater economic and cultural impact.
Over 3,000 teachers and students participated in Prospect.1, which grounds its programs on the principle that art engenders social progress. Prospect.2 will continue its emphasis on education programs, expanding its outreach within the local school system through enhanced teacher training, field trips and student exhibitions.
New Orleans was the first U.S city to host a recurring international art exhibition, beginning in 1887 with the Exhibition of the Art Association of New Orleans. In this tradition, Prospect New Orleans features art originating from New Orleans and Louisiana within an international context and provides the Louisiana public with new art conceived and developed for the city. Prospect.2 will continue to initiate a new category of cultural tourism on a scale normally seen during Mardi Gras and the city's celebrated JazzFest. This influx of international tourists will be an enormous boost for the local economy, including hotels, restaurants, shopkeepers, gallery owners, and artists themselves. As in the words of Cameron: "New Orleans was long an urban wonderland where creative spirits by the thousands came to live and work, and it is quickly becoming a place where art lovers from around the world can indulge in the city's natural and cultural beauty while enjoying some of the most important cutting-edge art being made today."
About Prospect New Orleans:
Founded in 2008 by Dan Cameron, Prospect New Orleans is the largest biennial of international contemporary art in the United States. Conceived in the tradition of the great international biennials, such as the Venice Biennale and the Bienal de São Paulo, Prospect New Orleans showcases new artistic practices from around the world and contributes to the revitalization of New Orleans by spurring tourism and bringing international attention to the city's vibrant visual arts community. Prospect.2, the second iteration of the contemporary art biennial, which is curated by Dan Cameron, will open to the public on November 13, 2010 and will be on view until Sunday, February 14, 2011.
Prospect New Orleans is founded on the principle that art engenders social progress. It is organized by U.S. Biennial, Inc. a 501(c)(3) non-profit art organization with offices in New Orleans and New York City. U.S. Biennial, Inc. was launched in January 2007 and its first project was Prospect.1.
Funding organizations and donors:
Prospect New Orleans has been made possible by the support of Founding Benefactor Toby Devan Lewis. Additional funding has been generously provided by the Board of Directors of the U.S. Biennial, Inc. as well as from foundations, corporations, domestic and foreign government agencies, and hundreds of individual donors. Past and present funders include: The Annenberg Foundation, The Starry Night Fund of the Tides Foundation, The Andy Warhol Foundation for Visual Arts, The Getty Foundation, The Rockefeller Foundation, the Zemurray Foundation, The Ruth U. Fertel Foundation, The RosaMary Foundation, Bloomberg, The Prudential Foundation, and Agnes Gund, among others. Local support has been provided by the State of Louisiana Department of Culture, Recreation & Tourism, as well as the New Orleans Tourism Marketing Corporation, New Orleans Metropolitan Convention & Visitors Bureau, W Hotel New Orleans, and the Downtown Development District.
Media Contact:
Kellie Honeycutt or Ben Thornborough
Blue Medium T: (212) 675-1800 E: kellie@bluemedium.com, ben@bluemedium.com
Preview Days November 11-12, 2010
Opening November 13, 2010