November 7, 2008

US & CANADA | US | LOUISIANA | NEW ORLEANS

New Orleans is Back

By Doug Black

The Big Easy paints the town red with a monster-size showcase of contemporary art.

view map

After three years of painful rehab, New Orleans is getting a little art therapy. This week, the city kicked off Prospect.1: America’s largest biennial of international contemporary art, ever. The 11-week, free-admission show culls work from 81 artists representing 30-plus nations (with a special emphasis on “Crescent City” locals). On display in 30 locations ranging from museums to an empty lot created by Hurricane Katrina (pictured with boat installation), the biennale aims to put New Orleans on the world’s contemporary art map — while boosting the city’s continual recovery.

To see this revival in action, look no further than the French Quarter. While the Big Easy’s most famous district escaped really serious damage, its borders took a beating. On Baronne Street, the Roosevelt Hotel spent 115 years as the go-to place for the glitterati before Katrina forced its closure. After an aborted renovation attempt by Fairmont, Waldorf=Astoria purchased the 15-story Art Deco tower in 2007 with plans of pouring $100 million into its restoration. Opening in the spring, the Roosevelt will have 500 guestrooms, a luxury spa and streetside restaurant — not to mention, the resurrected Blue Room: a famed supper club that hosted performances by Louis Armstrong and Tony Bennett.

A few blocks away, Wyndham just added Chateau Bourbon (formerly Chateau Sonesta) to its Historic Hotel line. Opened in 1849 as a D. H. Holmes department store, the building became a 251-room hotel in 1995 with 12-foot ceilings, balconies overlooking Bourbon Street, and a central courtyard with a swimming pool (almost obligatory in the Louisiana summer). Now, Wyndham is embarking on a two-year makeover. They’ll ditch any dated décor while retaining the hotel’s contemporary art collection. With works by Sol LeWitt and Lowell Nesbitt, it should help keep New Orleans’ art scene hot, long after Prospect.1 ends.