On Procession assembles contemporary artworks that look to parades as a theme or a device. The exhibition consists of two parts: the IMA gallery display, on view between May 2 and August 10, 2008, and a parade that occurred on April 26 in downtown Indianapolis. While some of the works in this exhibition were created for inclusion in actual parades and processions, other works draw inspiration from the imagery and materials of parades.

Expanding the traditional scope of an exhibition, On Procession brings projects initially made for public space into a museum setting and also presents animated projects in the streets. These works provoke questions about the institutionalization of public space, patronage and participatory culture, and the carnivalesque, a term used by theorist Mikhail Bahktin to describe moments of carnival activity, when “the rules” become suspended. Here, the carnivalesque is evoked in subverting traditional hierarchies of audience-participant relationships, as well as in acts of collective celebration.