On Saturday the citywide triennial Prospect New Orleans is opening its fourth iteration, Prospect.4, The Lotus in Spite of the Swamp. Featuring work by Ellen Gallagher, Rashid Johnson, Alfredo Jaar, Minerva Cuevas, and Mark Dion, the triennial will celebrate its opening on Friday with a gala honoring Louisiana-born artist Lynda Benglis. Prospect.4 also includes a forthcoming public art installation by Kara Walker, which will be presented and performed in February 2018. Inspired by natural landscape of New Orleans, the exhibition’s title also alludes to the city’s cultural landscape as a creative force—saxophonist Archie Shepp described jazz as a triumph of the human spirit, a lily that grows “in spite of the swamp.” Prospect.4 will run through February 25th, 2018.
Also this week:
- Cindy Sherman embarked on a selfie project for W Magazine, now featured on the cover of its current Art Issue.
- Mark Bradford is partnering with the Baltimore Museum of Art and the Greenmount West Community Center to launch a 2018 program aimed at teaching low-income Baltimore children creative and entrepreneurial skills.
- Ai Weiwei is auctioning a sculpture to raise funds for a charity that provides education to Syrian refugee children in Lebanon.
- In awards this week, Shahzia Sikander won the Shahneela and Farhan Faruqui Popular Choice Art Prize at the Karachi Biennale 2017 for her animated film, Disruption as Rapture. And the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation’s 80th anniversary gala this week will honor artist Cai Guo-Qiang.
Events & exhibitions
New York City
- Monday, November 13 from 7–8pm—Tonight The Brooklyn Rail and David Zwirner are hosting a panel discussion at Strand Books to celebrate launch of a new book of interviews, Tell Me Something Good. Moderated by Lucas Zwirner, panelists include Phong Bui, Jonas Mekas, Shirin Neshat, Shahzia Sikander and Jack Whitten.
- Thursday, November 16 at 7pm and 9pm—Julie Mehertu and Jason Moran are performing MASS (HOWL, eon) in Harlem as part of this year’s Performa biennial.
- Thursday, November 16 from 6-8pm—New York Close Up artist Mary Mattingly will be in conversation with activists Tanya Field and Ben Hall at The 8th Floor for a discussion entitled “Food is Love,” exploring the intersection of food, politics, activism, and art.
Buffalo, NY
- A new exhibition of work by Laylah Ali opened Friday at Hallways Contemporary Art Center. Paintings and Drawings will be on view through Friday, December 22.
Middletown, CT
- Wednesday, November 15 at 5pm—Laylah Ali will be giving an artist talk at Wesleyan University’s Center for the Arts in conjunction with the school’s Black Pulp! exhibition, on view through December 10.
Philadelphia
- This is the last week to see Martin Puryear’s solo exhibition at The Print Center, Martin Puryear: Prints 1962-2016, which closes this Saturday, November 18.
New Orleans
- Saturday, November 18 from 3:30–5pm—Leonardo Drew will be participating in a panel discussion alongside Christopher Bedford, Melvin Edwards, Charles Gaines, Katy Siegel, and Shinique Smith at the Ogden Museum of Southern Art. The event is being held in conjunction with the exhibition Solidary & Solitary: The Joyner/Giuffrida Collection, which features work by Glenn Ligon, Leonardo Drew, and Mark Bradford and is on view through January 21, 2018.
- Tuesday, November 14 at 10am—Mark Dion will be speaking about his work at the University of New Orleans in conjunction with his participation in Prospect.4.
East Lansing, MI
- A new exhibition pairing the work of Mike Kelley and Jim Shaw opens Saturday at Michigan State University’s Broad Art Museum. Entitled Michigan Stories, the exhibition will be on view through February 25, 2018.
Seattle
- Also opening Saturday is Everyday Poetics at the Seattle Art Museum, which features the work of William Cordova, Abraham Cruzvillegas, and Gabriel Orozco among others. Exclusively focusing on Latin American artists, the show’s works “function like poetic ballads in the stream of everyday life,” and will be on view through June 17, 2018.
San Luis Obispo, CA
- Cuesta College’s Harold J. Miossi Art Gallery is hosting Oliver Herring as an artist in residence starting today through December 7. While Herring is there, he’ll transform the gallery into a studio space and collaborate with students and the community on an exhibition that will be on view for the month of December. This Wednesday at 5:30pm, he’ll be giving an artist talk and presenting proposed ideas for his residency exhibition.
Montreal
- This Sunday is the last day to see Erin Shirreff’s exhibition at Darling Foundry. In Concrete Buildings, the artist presents a double projection video installation that focuses on two prototype buildings designed and built by Donald Judd.
Nice, France
- On Saturday a solo exhibition by Liz Magor is opening at Musée d’art moderne et d’art contemporain (MAMAC). The retrospective will feature more than fifty works created by the artist between 1989 and 2017, and will be on view through May 13, 2018.
Umeå, Sweden
- Do Ho Suh’s Passages is opening Friday at Bildmuseet, where it will be on view through April 15, 2018. The artist will be giving a talk at 4pm on Friday ahead of the exhibition’s evening opening.