Savoring Prospect.3

After a long week-end of parties, galas, talks, for the opening of Prospect.3, it is time to look back or ...forward. Blogs, newspapers' articles, interviews, all eyes were on New Orleans the past few days. Groups of visitors came trailing curators, crowds gathered at the Ashe Cultural Arts Center to see Kerry James Marshall's Storefront, walked along the river to get a glimpse of Tavares Strachan's barge floating on the dark waters and selfies went on Facebook. Many looked official wearing their pink P.3 tag. But who had time to appreciate fifty-eight artists with works located in more than fifteen locations? This does not account for the P3+ venues and satellite shows. I was among the first visitors at the Ogden Museum of Southern Art to see Basquiat on the Bayou with a reservation from 10 till 10:30 on Saturday, then crossed the street to look at the works from more than twenty artists at the Contemporary Art Center. My next stop was at the New Orleans Museum of Art and  on the  way back, the Newcomb Art Gallery on the Tulane campus. Add a visit at the McKenna Museum of African American Art followed by a walk through the Joan Mitchell Center Gallery... Exhaustion was around the corner.
After this gluttonous start, I feel like savoring Prospect.3 over the next few months. I will delight in writing about each venue, an ambitious project, but this is how to appreciate the artists, the Biennale, the city. After all, I have all the time... I live in New Orleans, and I belong!

photographs by the author:

"Tank", 2014, Glen Kaino
"Untitled (Cadmium)", 1984, Jean-Michel Basquiat