The Newcomb Art Museum will reopen to the public on Saturday, May 22, with the exhibition Transcommunality, featuring the work of multidisciplinary artist and activist Laura Anderson Barbata. Transcommunality opened to the public virtually on January 19, 2021, and will remain on display through October 2, 2021.
The Mexican-born, New York-based artist engages a wide variety of platforms through her collaborative, process-driven practice, which focuses on issues of cultural diversity and sustainability by blending political activism, street theater, sculpture and arts education. Since the early 1990s, Barbata has initiated projects with people living in the Amazon of Venezuela, Trinidad and Tobago, Mexico, Norway, and New York, bringing public attention to issues of civil, indigenous and environmental rights.
“It is my belief that a shared artistic social practice can serve as a platform on which we connect, learn, exchange, create, and transcend borders in order to activate our sense of belonging to a global community,” said Barbata. “My work seeks to further the expectations of socially engaged art by involving collaborators such as archives, scientists, activists, musicians, street dancers, and artisans to create works that operate both inside and outside of the art world.”
Transcommunality offers a space to contemplate ritual, folklore and the impact of the natural environment on culture. Barbata’s globally diverse collaborators celebrate the human experience by consciously reviving intangible cultural heritage and resisting homogenization by deploying skills inherent to the survival of their local expressions. Performance documentation and stunning garments throughout the museum invite onlookers to connect with the traditions of West Africa, the Amazon, Mexico and the Caribbean while exploring and connecting more deeply with the exhibition’s visual narratives.
The Newcomb Art Museum, located on the campus of Tulane University on Newcomb Circle, will be open Saturday through Tuesday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. through the summer. Entrance is free but timed tickets required. More information can be found here.
