Art and Food in New Orleans

On the ferry across the Mississippi to the Algiers neighborhood in New Orleans, the abstract painter Odili Donald Odita has installed a colorful flag with a wavy pattern. It's one of 18 flags planted around the city, in 16 places that have historical significance for black struggles. (Algiers was the parish where African slaves were held before being sold.)

"The city itself is the artwork, and the flags are just markers," said the Nigeria-born artist, who is known for his kaleidoscopic-colored paintings. "The struggle is the fight for freedom. It's something people died for and continue to fight for. But I wanted to underscore the act of celebration of what has been accomplished."

Celebration springing from the roots of hardship is the theme of a citywide contemporary art festival, Prospect.4, taking over New Orleans through Feb. 25. It's the fourth installment of a tradition that began in 2008 as a response to the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, and should be particularly exciting this year, as it overlaps with a monthslong celebration of the 300th anniversary of the city's founding.

The motto of Prospect.4 is "The Lotus in Spite of the Swamp," and the featured artists examine issues of identity, displacement, ecology, and racial and economic inequity. "The greatest gift and challenge is the cultural and historical complexity of New Orleans," said Trevor Schoonmaker, Prospect.4's artistic director and chief curator at Duke University's Nasher Museum of Art. "Every city is complex, but New Orleans has layers and layers. The artists don't pretend to speak for the city. It's more about, What a gift this city is, and how can we explore common threads?"

Seventy-three artists are featured from the U.S., Europe, Africa, Latin America, and the Caribbean. Thirty-two works were commissioned specifically for the event, and all told they spread across 17 city venues, including museums and public spaces (although most of the art is concentrated in four venues). Prospect.4's $3.8 million budget comes mainly from local and national foundations, with about 100,000 visitors expected.

Outdoor exhibits are free, while the museums have admission fees and varying hours. Seeing everything could take up to three days. Here's what we recommend -and some recommendations for where to eat and relax along the way.

Wayne Gonzales's acrylic paintings from photos of contemporary Louisiana landscape are cleverly positioned alongside pastoral scenes by mid- to late-19th-century Louisiana bayou school painters to evoke the passage of time.

The Contemporary Arts Center features a cacophony of materials and themes. Lavar Munroe's towering sculpture of a rider fallen from his horse-made from fabric, tennis balls, rubber, wood, hair and so much more-is a centerpiece. Brad Kahlhamer's wire and bell dream catchers are delicate and intricate. The green flora in watercolor panels by Cuba-born Maria Magdalena Campos-Pons, who explores how identity is formed through gender, history and religion, are lush and sinewy. Check out Kader Attia's circular floor sculpture of more than 2,900 bent beer cans crowded together and Margarita Cabrera's vinyl, thread, metal and wood baby grand piano sculpture that looks like it's about to fold into itself.

Next, stroll over to the nearby Ace Hotel on Carondelet Street where, just off the lobby, Los Angeles-based Genevieve Gaignard explores race, beauty and cultural identity. She's created two rooms: a parlor with keepsakes and furniture, and a second room with church pews meant to inspire introspection. Go ahead and sit on the sofa in the installation; it's allowed. You can even bring your Stumptown coffee.

Also near the Ogden and the Contemporary Art Center is the rustic Peche, where chef Ryan Prewitt's grilled whole fish can't be beat. (Start with the tangy crab claws with pickled chilies.) Peche is part of the Link Restaurant Group of chef-proprietors Donald Link and Stephen Stryjewski, whose empire includes Herbsaint, Cochon, and Cochon Butcher, also all within walking distance of Prospect venues.

At the edge of the French Quarter on Esplanade Avenue at the New Orleans Jazz Museum at the U.S. Mint, you'll find Rashid Johnson's cubicle-like steel sculpture with shelves for objects like shea butter, plants, and books and records that represent black literary and musical traditions. Especially fascinating are collages created by Louis Armstrong, who covered reel-to-reel tape boxes with photographs and words from magazines and newspapers. Darryl Montana's opulant, beaded and feathered Mardi Gras Indian costumes are gorgeous.

For food and drinks: The weekday three-course lunch menu for $18.56 (celebrating its 160 years of operation) at Tujague's in the French Quarter is a bargain, with house specialties gumbo, brisket of beef and seafood in a creole tomato sauce. Throw in a few $4 house wines, cocktails, Bloody Marys or mimosas and you'll end up hanging out for the afternoon in this classic dining room with checkered marble tile floors, white linen table cloths and ceiling fans. It's old school for sure.

In the Bywater neighborhood, walk along the path between the train tracks and the Mississippi to view four sculptures in urban Crescent Park. The Piety Street entrance at 3360 Chartres St. is easiest to access, with a free parking lot. After crossing the pedestrian bridge, turn right to see New Orleans artist Jennifer Odem's sculptures of stacked tables and steel that seem to mimic the New Orleans skyline. Nearby is Runo Lagomarsino's cheeky artwork "If You Don't Know What the South Is, It's Simply Because You Are From the North." The park also features Radcliffe Bailey's 2017 circular sculpture with sound emanating from a conch shell and Hong An Truong's steel and wire assemblage.

Kara Walker's postponed public installation will be presented during the closing weekend in February. Walker, famous for her monumental sphinx in Brooklyn in 2014, has created a parade wagon with a 32-note calliope-a pipe organ used in steamboats, for example-that plays African American protest music. She's working with jazz pianist Jason Moran and steam-power enthusiast Kenneth Griffard.

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January 2, 2018