The exhibition On Procession was accompanied by a parade in Indianapolis on April 26, 2008. That parade, conceived as an extension of the exhibition, was developed with local partners and was comprised of commissioned artworks, a series of community workshops with master craftspersons, and an open call for participation. Throughout the production of the On Procession exhibition and parade, open forums, project workshops, online discussions and other conversation series focused directly on the process of working in public space, including the nuances of institutional sponsorship, access to participation, and themes around the invention of social ritual/tradition.

California-based artist Fritz Haeg proposed an alternative choreography for the parade: dividing the parade into two parts (East and West) that would walk towards each other and meet at a highway intersection in downtown Indianapolis. Among the approximately fifty artists and collectives who contributed to the parade, the exhibition includes selected documents, ephemera, and artworks from the following participants: artist-duo Silevy examines the ideologies of parade celebrations in a video montage worn as part of a military costume; the Indianapolis-based Big Car Collective samples real-time street sound in a live musical performance; The Johnny Appleseed Color Guard considers Haeg’s West-to-East route as a point of departure for thinking about the spread of native and invasive plant species across North America; Patrick Gillespie navigates the streets with a chance-based performance in a sensory-deprivation suit; and the Cincinnati collective Arthole acts out a sci-fi fantasy about robots under the earth’s surface. Other featured parade projects included contributions from Alison Heimstead and Allison Smith.

Art Parades Photo Group