Mickalene Thomas: Femmes Noires On View November 2, 2019 - June 14, 2020 Mickalene Thomas: Femmes Noires is an exhibition of new work—collages and montages by Mickalene Thomas. Spanning new painting, film, and photography, the works include references to pop culture and the long history of Western and African Art—from Edouard Manet’s odalisque figures to the mise-en-scene studio portraiture of...Read more
Exhibition
Saturday, November 2, 2019 to Sunday, April 12, 2020
“Queerness is not yet here. Queerness is an ideality. We may never touch queerness, but we can feel it as the warm illumination of a horizon imbued with potentiality. We have never been queer, yet queerness exists for us as an ideality that can be distilled from the past and used to imagine a future.” -- José Esteban Muñoz, Cruising Utopia Meg Turner: Here and Now is the artist’s first solo...Read more
Saturday, November 2, 2019 to Sunday, February 2, 2020
Akosua Adoma Owusu is a Ghanian-American filmmaker, producer, and cinematographer whose films and installations address the collision of identities. Often combing personal ethnography and cultural representations of beauty in her work, Owusu transitions between avant-garde cinema, fine art, and African tradition. Her work ranges with its varied use of archival material, direct animation, and...Read more
Saturday, November 2, 2019 to Sunday, June 14, 2020
A collaborative pop-up between Material Life and Mickalene Thomas, Femmes Féroces celebrates the creativity and originality of our collective community of femmes noires—who, borrowing from the 100 Black Females Project, we define as “…all who express and identify themselves as a woman, girl, femme, female, trans, queen on any day or all days,” according to Chandra Williams. Through an immersive...Read more
Saturday, November 2, 2019 to Sunday, February 2, 2020
In 2009, New Orleans Airlift was founded by musician and artist manager Jay Pennington and multi-media installation artist Delaney Martin as an artist-driven collaborative initiative to inspire wonder, connect communities, and foster opportunities through education and the creation of experimental public artworks in the city of New Orleans and across the globe. In honor of New Orleans Airlift’s...Read more
Saturday, November 2, 2019
You're Invited! On Saturday, November 2, please join us for the CAC's 2019 season opening reception celebrating the debut of five exhibitions that will examine the reclamation of identity, Black femininity, queer and chosen love, and the 10th Anniversary of New Orleans Airlift! This event is FREE & OPEN to the public. The five CAC exhibitions that will open November 2 include: MICKALENE...Read more
Saturday, October 5, 2019
The CAC's Fall Art Experience Returns October 5th! CAC's Art for Arts' Sake returns to downtown, the CAC and the Arts District New Orleans on Saturday, October 5th! Created by the Contemporary Arts Center in 1980, Arts for the Arts' Sake has become a favorite fall tradition for art lovers in and around New Orleans and a showcase of the incredible multidisciplinary artists from our region...Read more
Saturday, August 3, 2019 to Saturday, October 5, 2019
2019 Open Call Exhibition: Identity Measures Presenting the Work of 23 Regional Artists On View Saturday, August 3 through Saturday, October 5 We are excited to announce Identity Measures , our 2019 Open Call Exhibition, which will be on view at the CAC from Saturday, August 3 to Saturday, October 5, 2019! Each year, CAC's Open Call exhibition is organized by a guest curator and features works by...Read more
Saturday, August 3, 2019 to Saturday, October 5, 2019
Inheritance and Immanence: The World We Are Left With On View August 3 through October 5 Now more than ever, teens are interested and involved in social, political, and environmental actions addressing the issues our society faces. As young people, we confront circumstances passed on from previous generations, and are affected. This exhibition seeks to reflect on the effects that school shootings...Read more
Thursday, August 1, 2019 to Saturday, August 31, 2019
Enjoy The Best Of NOLA's Museums This Month! New Orleans Museum Month is a collaboration between museums of all sizes across the greater New Orleans area. It offers museum members the opportunity to visit all participating institutions, FREE OF CHARGE, using their current membership throughout the month of August. Not a member of the CAC yet? Join today and get access to all participating New...Read more
Thursday, August 1, 2019 to Saturday, August 31, 2019
Cool Off at the CAC This Month: FREE ADMISSION When Temps Hit 95°! The Helis Foundation offers free admission for Louisiana residents to cool off inside and enjoy the Contemporary Arts Center, New Orleans Museum of Art, and Ogden Museum of Southern Art throughout August To help Louisianans beat the heat, The Helis Foundation has again teamed up with some of New Orleans’ largest art institutions...Read more
Thursday, April 25, 2019 to Sunday, May 12, 2019
space-ship is a nonprofit organization committed to fostering inclusive civic discourse about social justice and community through arts and culture. The CAC is excited to welcome space-ship for its third pop-up presentation, which will be on-view from April 25, 2019 until May 12, 2019 at The Contemporary Arts Center. space-ship displays contemporary art as a vehicle for engaging in difficult...Read more
Saturday, November 3, 2018 to Sunday, February 10, 2019
After presentations at the Berkeley Museum of Art, LAXART, and the Whitney Biennial, Zarouhie Abdalian returns to her hometown with a solo exhibition. Through sound, sculpture, and site-specific installation, Abdalian presents a body of work that deals with the historical and subjective condition of human labor. Mounting a critical response to the art historical development of the readymade,...Read more
Saturday, November 3, 2018 to Sunday, February 10, 2019
Living and working in the Ninth Ward of New Orleans, Calhoun and McCormick have documented the city and its people for forty years. This presentation exhibits their photographs of laboring communities including the last sugar cane and sweet potato harvesters, unionized dockworkers, musician day laborers, hospitality and restaurant workers, domestic caretakers and one of the largest workforces in...Read more
Saturday, November 3, 2018 to Sunday, February 10, 2019
Raised in New Orleans, Monaghan spent his childhood watching the mechanical operations of the Reily Coffee Company where his father worked. Later, he trained in the studios of architect William Wainwright and Buckminster Fuller and established his artist studio in the Portland Sheet Metal Shop in Somerville, MA. In 1975, the ICA Boston organized his first solo exhibition. William Monaghan: I—...Read more
Thursday, March 22, 2018 to Sunday, June 17, 2018
“There are certain categories that continue to repeat themselves, whether they be cars, buildings, or a certain exchange between people. You have the same sort of catalogue of gestures, a catalogue of moments, but they mean different things in all the different circumstances…” “I am not interested in documentaries, I do not believe in any kind of objectivity.” — Sarah Morris Sarah Morris: Sawdust...Read more
Thursday, March 22, 2018 to Sunday, June 17, 2018
Why Is Everything A Rag is the first solo museum exhibition of the Stockholm-based artist Jockum Nordström in the United States. Children’s books, jazz and blues vinyl covers, collages, drawings, paintings, and paper sculptures collected from the start of his career through today figure in a practice animated by and built of visual vernacular. Inhabiting liminal spaces heralded as much by...Read more
Monday, January 29, 2018 to Friday, March 16, 2018
Apply for the 2018 Teen Exhibition! How Do You Create a Portrait of a City? We encourage you to think experimentally and critically about the nature of portraiture and welcome submissions in any medium - drawing, painting, sound, photography, animation, film, sculpture, installations, and digital art. We want it all! Here are some questions from the Teen Board to help get you started: Is a city...Read more
Sunday, January 28, 2018
Join the CAC, YLC, and The Helis Foundation to celebrate the CAC's weekly Free Day for Louisiana residents and the final event in the Lunch at the Museum series. Enjoy free gallery admission for Louisiana residents, music in the CAC Atrium by DJ HYENA, and delicious brunch offerings at the newly opened Revelator Coffee . SEE: Prospect.4: The Lotus in Spite of the Swamp EAT: Brunch at Revelator...Read more
Wednesday, January 24, 2018
Get an exclusive look at Prospect.4: The Lotus in Spite of the Swamp with Emily Wilkerson, Prospect.4 Deputy Director for Curatorial Affairs. After the walkthrough, join us for the premiere performance of Urban Bush Women's Hair & Other Stories at 7:30pm. CAC Members receive $10 off tickets and priority seating. This event is open to current CAC Members only. JOIN or RENEW MembershipRead more