Prospect New Orleans, the Louisiana-based triennial, will not stage a seventh edition in 2027. Instead, the organisation will produce 20 Years of Prospect, a publication looking back on the first six editions of the triennial through oral histories, critical essays and archival imagery.
Via ARTnews, Prospect’s former executive director Nick Stillman said that there may be more editions in the future, however the organisation’s current focus is to step back from ‘the extremely demanding grind of that three-year cycle, and to instead zoom out and focus on this legacy and archive effort’.
He added that the decision not to stage an exhibition in 2027 was due to several factors including a desire to properly recognise and preserve the legacy of past editions, and funding concerns.
Though Prospect hasn’t been affected by Trump’s mass cancellation of NEA grants, Stillman noted that ‘Prospect’s board has been very attuned to the macro political situation that we’re facing in this country…There’s less funding available for efforts like large scale exhibitions that implicitly or explicitly address highly political topics.’
