Thursday, April 3, 2014

                                       
Positions + Power is an intervention in the space of carnival that uses the body as a primary medium, stripping mas’ of its decorative elements while maintaining a balance between the material and the immaterial. Through the positions of and interactions between the masqueraders and an ominous mobile surveillance tower, reminiscent of police booths omnipresent at carnival time, Positions + Power points to power relations in public space between the state and civil society. Positions + Power also makes visible processes of negotiation of class and ethnicity through body make-up inspired by the local fashion of chest powdering.
En Mas’: Carnival 21st Century Style is the first major scholarly curatorial project to account for the influence of Carnival on contemporary performance practices in and of the Caribbean, North America, and Europe.” En Mas’ charts an alternative path for performance art in the steps of Carnival and other festivals in the Caribbean and its diasporas.

En Mas’: Carnival 21st Century Style is curated by Claire Tancons and Krista Thompson and co-organized by Contemporary Arts Center New Orleans (CAC) and Independent Curators International (ICI). It is made possible by an Emily Hall Tremaine Exhibition Award with additional support provided by the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts


                                                        photo by Kerhann Jones




                                         photos by Marlon James

                                          photo by Arnaldo James