Local shows for art biennial shine a light on BR art scene
Art is everywhere in Baton Rouge this weekend. Of the three Louisiana cities that have taken on Prospect.3 New Orleans regional exhibits this year, Baton Rouge seems to have really run with it.
The third iteration of the art biennial in New Orleans expanded its scope this time around to include companion shows in Baton Rouge, Lafayette and Hammond, dubbed P.3+ Regional. Across the Capital City, 14 venues have stepped up to devote gallery space to Prospect exhibits featuring a diverse and exceptional cast of local and national artists.
Curators for the Baton Rouge arm of Prospect.3, including the Arts Council, Elevator Projects and The Walls Project, have developed what’s amounted to a months-long arts festival with live art and live sculpture demonstrations, a graphic arts poster contest, public lectures, documentary screenings and a weekend of celebratory opening events that continue tonight.
Read on for a full list of events:
FRIDAY, NOV. 14 At the Walls Project Art & Design Center 6 p.m.-9 p.m. Opening reception for “Manifest Land” A multimedia exhibition featuring works by local artists themed around location, geography and memory. Featured artists include Alexis Stephenson, John Gray, Melisa Abdollahi-Rad, Nick Hwang, Robert Wilkinson, Sara Sicona, Stephanie Landry, Tom LaPann and Katherine Semeneko.
Healthcare Gallery 2.0 on the fourth floor of Chase Tower South downtown. Staff photos
SATURDAY, NOV. 15 Fourth floor of the Chase Tower South Noon-7 p.m.
Probably the crowning achievement of Baton Rouge’s Prospect.3 participation is what’s happening on the vacant fourth floor of the Chase Tower South downtown. What was once a maze of bland office space, the entire fourth floor—all 15,000 square feet of it—has been converted into a gallery of contemporary art, with more than 100 invited artists showcasing works. Some have taken over small office suites with their installations, others have their pieces staged along the wide-open interior main rooms.
Elevator Projects’ Raina Wirta and LSU Museum of Art’s Rodneyna Hart organized the invitational for the exhibit and curated the space, dubbed Healthcare Gallery 2.0. The result is a show that mirrors the scrappy, DIY elements often seen in Elevator Projects events, while shining the brightest spotlight yet on the enormous amount of emerging local talent we have here.
ALSO SATURDAY, NOV. 15 Noon-5 p.m.
The other participating locations for Prospect.3 exhibits in Baton Rouge will offer free admission to the public Saturday. The locations include: • Baton Rouge Gallery, which features an artist members group show
• Shaw Center for the Arts, which hosts the DesignBR poster competition display in the ground floor atrium
• LSU Museum of Art, which hosts a lecture from exhibiting artist Kelli Scott Kelley at 3 p.m. and an opening reception for Silas Breaux’s lobby installation at 4 p.m.
One of two Jason Hackenwerth sculptures in the Louisiana Art & Science Museum. Courtesy LASM
• Louisiana Art & Science Museum, which features some impressive, large-scale installations by Jason Hackenwerth (right), Heather Hansen and Holton Rower—including two balloon sculptures that stand two stories high. LASM has also launched a series of exhibitions, titled “Capital City Contemporary,” which highlights dozens of local and regional contemporary artists, including Billie Bourgeois, Rosemary Goodell and Edward Pramuk. There’s also a video installation by artist John Gray in one of the museum’s windows, which is viewable from the street.
Anja Marais’ “Ballast” in the Arts Council’s Firehouse Gallery. Courtesy Anja Marais
• Arts Council of Greater Baton Rouge‘s Firehouse Gallery, which features haunting mixed media works by South African artist Anja Marais (right). See more pictures from her show, “Ballast,” here.
• LSU School of Art’s Foster Gallery (on campus) and Glassell Gallery (in the Shaw Center, which features some wonderful prints by printmaker and physician Eric Avery)
• Ann Connelly Fine Art, which features several group exhibits throughout the course of Prospect.3
• The Healthcare Gallery, featuring works by LSU School of Art graduate students
• Lagniappe Records, which will be hosting ART21 documentary screenings Nov. 19, Dec. 17 and Jan. 21
• Capital Park Welcome Center, featuring works by Charles Barbier
• The Walls Project Art & Design Center, which (from noon to midnight) will hosts 12 hours of local cultural performances, including collaborative dance, digital orchestra, environmental mixed-media installations, interactive art, fashion, comedy, spoken word poetry, theatrical performances, and live local music. There will also be food trucks onsite.
• The Gallery at The Manship Theatre, featuring works by David Contreras and Raina Wirta
SUNDAY, NOV. 16 Local Filmmaker Showcase 6 p.m.
The local Prospect.3 events continue with a local filmmaker showcase at Manship Theatre. Admission is $5, and the event features the premiere of Pacifico’s music video for “I Finally Found What I’m Looking For,” and much more. Visit manshiptheatre.org for more information.
