Robin Rhode is presenting two new works in the New Orleans Biennial. The biennial will open on Saturday, November 1st, 2008 and will be on view until January 18th, 2009.

Robin Rhode, that we discovered during Art Brussels fair and again at the Fiac in Paris, will be showcasing two new works in “Prospect.1” in the New Orleans Biennial. The artist has created the site-specific project 9th Floor using the existing architecture of a public toilet in the Lower 9th Ward (the area that was affected most by Hurricane Katrina and is largely uninhabited today, over 3 years later). The structure/sculpture is geared more towards a 'contemplation space' than a monument to the natural disaster.

The public toilet, located in a field off of Caffin Avenue at Law Street, has not been functioning since 2005. Rhode removed the wall dividing the men's and women's restrooms, along with all hand basins, toilets and urinals; he left the walls rough and unpainted on the inside and chose not to alter a mural that was painted over the summer by a local cultural group. He installed a fountain pump underground, so that a single line of water shoots up from the center of the space.

The installation Kite includes a photograph and DVD projection. Footage recorded during Robin Rhode's visit to New Orleans in early 2008 is projected in the shape of a diamond, with strings attached to each corner that extend across to the adjacent wall and into the hands depicted in the photograph (Rhode's own). Kite debuted earlier this month at Rhode's exhibition “Who Saw Who at the Hayward Gallery in London” (October 7 - December 8, 2008).

Photo credits...
Robin Rhode, public restroom, specific project 9th Floor - Image Courtesy the artist and Perry Rubenstein Gallery, New York

Bookmark...

Robin Rhode
9th Floor, 2008
Site specific installation in public restroom
Location: Caffin Avenue at Law Street in the Lower 9th Ward, New Orleans

Robin Rhode
Kite, 2008
Video Installation
Location: Contemporary Arts Center New Orleans, 900 Camp Street, 4th Floor
www.cacno.org

Prospect.1 New Orleans
The New Orleans Biennial
Directed by Dan Cameron
November 1, 2008 - January 18, 2009
www.prospectneworleans.org

Perry Rubenstein Gallery
527 West 23rd Street
534 West 24th Street
New York, NY 10011
Tel (212) 627-8000
www.perryrubenstein.com