Louisiana Cultural Vistas - Winter 2008 - (Page 17)

created a new work using metallic autopaint; Julie Mehretu, who is exhibiting a suite of large-scale paintings; Pierre & Gilles, who are displaying a new series of enhanced photographic images; Kay Rosen, who has transformed 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 is creating three large-scale wall hangings; Willie Birch, who will present 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 will also be on view. Lee Bul will present delicate glass and aluminum works that were shown at Fondation Cartier pour l'art contemporain in 2007-08; Fred Tomaselli will present two works that were painted in response to Hurricane Katrina along with a third, new piece; and Trenton Doyle Hancock will present elements including costumes, backdrops, and sculptures that he has created for Ballet Austin's new production Cult of Color. LCV For more information about Prospect.1 New Orleans, log on to: www.prospectneworleans.org or contact U.S. Biennial, Inc. at (212) 680-5305. OPERATION PAYDIRT Internationally recognized artist Mel Chin launched Operation Paydirt, an art and science project, to raise awareness of lead pollution in New Orleans — and beyond—on October 31, as an ancillary event to Prospect.1. Numerous artists and galleries not officially affiliated with the biennial hope to draw upon the creative spirit of the event. New Orleans, one of the most lead polluted cities in the U.S., has 86,000 properties with dangerously high levels of lead in the soil, placing thousands of children at risk for severe learning disabilities and behavioral problems, including violent crime. According to the American Society of Pediatrics, “Exposure to lead can cause cognitive damage and behavioral issues. Studies have shown that lead, once it enters a child’s body, it is stored in the bones for years. Ongoing exposure has been linked to loss of I.Q. points, higher rates of behavioral and attention problems, and reading disabilities.” Professor Howard Mielke of the Tulane/Xavier Center for Bioenvironmental Research, notes that “soil is an often overlooked source of unsafe lead that endangers children. The amount of lead found in New Orleans soil is as much as five times the level considered safe by the Environmental Protection Agency.” Safehouse is a powerful sculptural symbol of Operation Paydirt. This house, located at 2461 North Villere Street in New Orleans’ floodwrecked and lead-laden St. Roch neighborhood, has been transformed into a bank vault containing remediation methods to solve the lead health crisis. Fundred Dollar Bills — hand-drawn, original interpretations of U.S. hundred dollar bills by K-12 school children across the U.S. — will also support Operation Paydirt. Chin will collect the 7,000 pounds of Fundred Dollar drawings in a specially retrofitted armored truck and deliver the art currency to Washington D.C. There he will request from Congress an “even exchange” of $3 million in real funds to support the implementation of a solution to lead-related health and quality of life issues still challenging post-Katrina New Orleans. “Operation Paydirt demonstrates the participatory power of art as a driving force for public awareness, dialogue and action,” says Chin. Chin was born in Houston in 1951. He brings art to unlikely places, including destroyed homes, toxic landfills, and even popular television, investigating how art can provoke greater social awareness and responsibility. Unconventional and politically engaged, his projects challenge the idea of the artist as the exclusive creative force behind an artwork. Chin also promotes works of art that have the ultimate effect of benefiting science. In “Revival Field,” Chin worked with scientists to create sculpted gardens of hyperaccumulators — plants that can draw heavy metals from contaminated areas — in some of the most polluted sites in the world. Chin is one of 16 artists included in the first year of the PBS Series, Art of the 21st Century. He lives in North Carolina. For more information on Operation Paydirt and Fundred Dollar Bills, log on to www.fundred.org. Safehouse, 2008, by Mel Chin Winter 2008-09/LOUISIANA CULTURAL VISTAS 17 http://www.prospectneworleans.org http://www.fundred.org

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Louisiana Cultural Vistas - Winter 2008

Louisiana Cultural Vistas - Winter 2008 Contents Friends Editor's Column Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities Prospect.1 New Orleans The Historic New Orleans Collection The Enduring Performance of Michael P. Smith Jazz Notes Louisiana Foodways Birds of a Feather: Windfowl Carvings in Southeast Louisiana Louisiana Association of Museums Louisiana Architecture O. Winston Link in Louisiana The Ogden Museum of Southern Art The Colfax Massacre Louisiana State Museum Unlocking the History of Greek Key Architecture Bookstand Sound Advice Forum

Louisiana Cultural Vistas - Winter 2008

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