NEW ORLEANS.- Prospect.1 New Orleans, the largest biennial of international contemporary art ever organized in the United States, launched in New Orleans on November 1, 2008. Produced by U.S. Biennial, Inc., Prospect.1 is directed by international curator Dan Cameron, Director of Visual Arts at the Contemporary Arts Center (CAC) in New Orleans. Conceived in the tradition of the great international biennials, such as the Venice Biennale and Sao Paolo Biennial, Prospect.1 showcases new artistic practices, as well as an array of programs, which will benefit the local community. Over the course of its three-month run, the biennial has drawn attention, creative energy, and economic activity to the City of New Orleans, a historic regional artistic center, and the struggling Gulf Region.

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.1 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. 81 local, national, and international artists, hailing from over thirty countries, have been selected to participate in the inaugural edition of the biennial. Their works are being shown in museums, art centers, warehouses, and public spaces throughout the city, for a combined total of more than 100,000 square feet of exhibition space.

A number of biennial highlights respond to the destruction wrought on the city of New Orleans and the Gulf Region in 2005 by Hurricane Katrina. Mark Bradford creates a wooden Ark utilizing the shell of a destroyed house and other discarded scraps of wood in the Lower Ninth Ward. Paul Villinski, a New York-based artist known for creating work from debris who has said he found “new, urgent purpose in the disaster of Hurricane Katrina,” creates his Emergency Response Studio, a “green”-powered mobile artist’s studio, out of a discarded, now-iconic FEMA trailer. South African photographer Zwelethu Mthethwa, who first visited New Orleans in the more immediate wake of the hurricane, returned to the Lower Ninth Ward in late 2007 to create his first photographs outside of Africa, which debuts at Prospect.1.

Highlights of the biennial also include works by artists who have selected unique locations in which to install work. Adam Cvijanovic paints one of his murals inside an abandoned house in the Lower Ninth Ward, and Nari Ward converts an
abandoned church in the Lower Ninth Ward into an installation.

Other artists creating new works specifically for Prospect.1 New Orleans are Jacqueline Humphries, who creates a new work using metallic autopaint; Julie Mehretu, who is creating a suite of large-scale paintings; Pierre & Gilles, who are creating a new series of enhanced photographic images; Kay Rosen, who transforms city billboards and benches into enigmatic word-puzzles; and Kaz Oshiro, who is working on a new series of his characteristic sculptural trompe l'oeil pieces.

A number of New Orleans-born and based artists have also been selected to participate in the biennial, among them Shawne Major, who created three large-scale wall hangings; Willie Birch, who presents a new series of drawings; and Croatian-born, New Orleans-based sculptor Srdjan Loncar, who will erect a sculptural pile of money in front of the Louisiana State Museum U.S. Mint and encourage the public to carry some of it away in briefcases provided at the site.

Recent and iconic works by other major artists are also be on view. Lee Bul presents delicate glass and aluminum works that were shown at Fondation Cartier pour l'art contemporain in 2007-08; Fred Tomaselli presents two works that were painted in response to Hurricane Katrina along with a third, new piece; and Trenton Doyle Hancock presents elements including costumes, backdrops, and sculptures that he has created for Ballet Austin's new production Cult of Color.

The following artists are exhibiting their work in Prospect.1 New Orleans: Allora & Calzadilla, Ghada Amer, El Anatsui, Janine Antoni, Alexandre Arrechea, Luis Cruz Azaceta, John Barnes, Jr., Sanford Biggers, Willie Birch, Monica Bonvicini, Mark Bradford, Candice Breitz, Cai Guo-Qiang, Cao Fei, Francis Cape, Chen Chieh-Jen, Adam Cvijanovic, Jose Damasceno, Anne Deleporte, Leandro Erlich, Skylar Fein, Roy Ferdinand, Jr., Tony Fitzpatrick, Gajin Fujita, Rico Gatson, Katharina Grosse, Trenton Doyle Hancock, Victor Harris & Fi Yi Yi, Arturo Herrera, Takashi Horisaki, Jacqueline Humphries, Isaac Julien, William Kentridge, Lee Bul, Kalup Linzy, Srdjan Loncar, Rafael Lozano-Hemmer, Deborah Luster, Jorge Macchi/Edgardo Rudnitzky, Shawne Major, Nalini Malani, McCallum & Tarry, Dave McKenzie, Josephine Meckseper, Julie Mehretu, Aernout Mik, Beatriz Milhazes, Tatsuo Miyajima, Yasumasa Morimura, Zwelethu Mthethwa, Wangechi Mutu, Shirin Neshat, Marcel Odenbach, Kaz Oshiro, Miguel Palma, Perejaume, Pierre et Gilles, John Pilson, Sebastián Preece, Navin Rawanchaikul, Rosângela Rennó, Pedro Reyes, Robin Rhode, Stephen G. Rhodes, Nadine Robinson, Clare E. Rojas, Kay Rosen, Malick Sidibé, Amy Sillman, Nedko Solakov, Jackie Sumell with Herman Wallace, Superflex, Fiona Tan, Pascale Marthine Tayou, Fred Tomaselli, Jannis Varelas, Xavier Veilhan, Paul Villinski, Nari Ward, Xu Bing, and Haegue Yang.

Artists’ works were installed in some 100,000 square feet of exhibition space throughout the city of New Orleans. They are Battle Ground Baptist Church, Charles J. Colton School, Common Ground Relief, Contemporary Arts Center New Orleans, Edgar Degas Foundation, The George & Leah McKenna Museum of African American Art, Harrah’s Casino/Plaza of Good Fortune, The Hefler, The Historic New Orleans Collection, Ideal Auto Repair, L9 Center for the Arts, Longue Vue House & Gardens, Louisiana ArtWorks, Louisiana State Museum U.S. Mint, Loyola University, New Orleans African American Museum, New Orleans Center for Creative Arts|Riverfront, New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Center, New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Foundation, New Orleans Metropolitan Convention and Visitors Bureau, New Orleans Museum of Art, Newcomb Art Gallery at Tulane University, The Ninth Ward Village, Tekrema Center for Art and Culture, and Universal Furniture.