NOMA Museum update

Today we toured the new exhibit by Camille Henrot, Plasma, Plasma, Stealth.  This mixed media display connects the Cities of Ys, France with the Houma Indians from south Louisiana and the thorny question about the definition of culture.



http://noma.org/exhibitions/detail/72/Camille-Henrot-Cities-of-Ys

"Seeking to tie together two cultures, the Houma, and her own, Henrot recalls a legend told by her grandmother, a storyteller from Brittany, France. Brittany was an isolated coastal region of France that has maintained their culture through oral histories and storytelling. According to this legend, titled “City of Ys,” Ys was a luxurious coastal city protected by a seawall. In some iterations of the story, Princess Dahut of Ys, convinced by a foreign knight, stole the key to the floodgate from her father, King Gradlon. As a result of her transgression, the floodwalls collapsed and Ys was submerged underwater. However, the legend adds that the city continues to exist under the waves."

"Henrot draws an analogy between the physical loss of land in Ys and southern Louisiana, but there is also a religious suggestion. In another video of Plasmas plasma stealth (2013), Kirby Verret, a member of the Houma, recites bible passages for a Sunday sermon. Sliced into images of Verret is video footage of young girls getting dressed in traditional Houma costume, braiding their hair slowly and wrapping it in fabric and fur. This video poignantly shows the religious tidal wave of mainstream U.S. culture that has subsumed much of the original traditions of the Houma."
http://noma.org/news/detail/243/Camille-Henrot-Cities-of-Ys-at-the-New-Orleans-Museum-of-Art

 Here is a poem that I wrote comparing Venice to New Orleans.  Camille actually has a reference to Venice as an add on to one of her video pieces.

La Serenissima*

Venice and New Orleans both on the edge of destruction

Both sinking into the sea.

One in the Adriatic; the other in the Gulf

Both altars to international trade, travel, and influence.

Both colorful and flirtatious

Housing the creative genius of blended cultures:

Bellini, Titian, Marsalas, Sachmo, Percy

Myths of the Greek and Romans gods present everywhere;

From the streets of the muses to the lofts of the artists;

Lumbering under the rise and fall of the seas

They continue in spite of the gods’ plagues.

People continue to visit the cathedrals;

Feed the pigeons, and feast on the multi-cultural cuisine

Looking over their shoulders for signs of the next disaste;r

Taunting the heavens, dancing through the streets in masks and colorful customs;

Endymion ageless under the crescent moon.

Sleeping away fears and warnings of global destruction;

Waking only to imbibe in pools from the Andros.

We lull ourselves back to dream-

A more suitable ending to the “Feast of the Gods.”


The Feast of the Gods, by Giovanni Bellini
La Serenissima: the most serene republic of Venice