Here’s one of the art talk shows we hosted during UNTITLED, Art on Miami Beach, December 2016 via Wynwood Radio. We’re thrilled to add our energy to an art fair that’s more of an international exhibition than any other we’ve encountered. In this segment, you’ll hear host Cathy Byrd in conversation with Artistic Director Trevor Schoonmaker and Executive Director Brooke Davis Anderson and about plans for Prospect.4 New Orleans.  Prospect.4, the fourth iteration of the citywide exhibition that opens in November 2017, finds inspiration in the lotus plant. This aquatic perennial takes root in the fetid but nutrient-rich mud of swamps so that its beautiful flower may rise above the murky water. The flower’s grace is inextricably connected to the noisome swamp, just as redemption exists in ruin and creativity in destruction. Viewed as a symbol of spiritual enlightenment in Buddhism and Hinduism, the lotus suggests the possibility of overcoming arduous challenges. It reminds us that, from the depths of difficulty and desolation, art brings the invisible to light.

At the time of this recording, Brooke Davis Anderson was Executive Director of Prospect New Orleans/U.S. Biennial. From 2010 to 2012 Anderson was Deputy Director of Curatorial Planning at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA). In this role, Anderson oversaw the Watts Towers Conservation and Community Collaboration, and the “Curatorial Diversity Initiative,” a Mellon-funded pilot program aiming to change the demographics of professionals in museums across the nation. Brooke Davis Anderson currently directs the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts.

Trevor Schoonmaker is the Artistic Director of the U.S. Triennial, Prospect New Orleans.4 (P.4), scheduled to open November 2017. He is also the Chief Curator and Patsy R. and Raymond D. Nasher Curator of Contemporary Art at the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University. Hired in 2006 as its first contemporary art curator, he has been instrumental in shaping the museum’s curatorial vision and contemporary art collection.

Related podcast episodes: Franklin Sirmans on Prospect New Orleans, Timothy Levitch, Tavares Strachan, Margaret Thomas, and Gary Simmons on Prospect New Orleans
Related Fresh VUE: Prospect.2 New Orleans

Posted by Evelyne Zapata for Fresh Art International