Press Street is a New Orleans-based 501c3 literary and visual arts collective formed in 2005 to promote art and literature in the community through events, publications and arts education. Its projects include the gallery space Antenna, the annual 24 hour arts education extravaganza Draw-A-Thon, Room 220 - a blog dedicated to the literary life of New Orleans, free public film screenings, and the publication of books which focus on the relationship between the visual and literary arts.

monu_MENTAL

Exhibition: Feb 11 2012 - Mar 4 2012
Location: Antenna Gallery, 3161 Burgundy Street, New Orleans, LA 70117

by Max Cafard, realization by Stephen Duplantier

by Max Cafard, realization by Stephen Duplantier

Antenna is pleased to present “monu_MENTAL,” a group show proposing imaginative revisions to existing 19^th and 20^th century New Orleans monuments, with proposals presented by Luis Cruz Azaceta, Ron Bechet, Willie Birch, Max Cafard and Stephen Duplantier, Elena Dahl, Siobhan Feehan and Gianina Jimenez Barrantes, John Kleinschmidt and Andy Sternad, Zakcq Lockrem, Gen McKeown, Rajko Radovanovic, Deirdre Sargent, Ann Schwab and Brian McCormick, and Paulina Sierra.

“monu_MENTAL” seeks to revise and revive one’s experience of local monuments. Many a New Orleans monument has skidded out of sync with contemporary mores, if not out of the local consciousness. Not content with these prominent displays of anachronism, we wonder what these monuments bring to our city today. Can these hunks of bronze be shifted, if only in our imaginations, to bring awareness to contemporary issues? Artists reflect on this in proposal format.

There will be an opening reception for the artists on February 11^th, 6pm to 9pm. Local preservation organization Monumental Task will be at the opening with materials about their work. The event is free. Gallery hours are February 12 – March 4^th, Saturday and Sunday from 12pm to 5pm.

For more information contact: courtney@press-street.com.

Additional links:

NolaVie article about the project:
http://www.nola.com/nolavie/index.ssf/2011/07/rising_art_re-imagining_new_or.html

A history of local monuments written by WPA writers in the 1930s:
http://louisdl.louislibraries.org/cdm4/results.php?CISOOP1=any&CISOBOX1=[193-]&CISOFIELD1=CISOSEARCHALL&CISOOP2=all&CISOBOX2=sculpture&CISOFIELD2=subjec&CISOROOT=%2FLWP&t=s

Statues in New Orleans

http://www.nola.com/nolavie/index.ssf/2011/07/statuesque_views_of_new_orlean.html

Psychogeography
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychogeography

Siobhan's Love Letter to Louisiana

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